A WIMBORNE care home has suffered the highest number of Covid deaths in Dorset.

Magna Care Centre, in Arrowsmith Road, has recorded 23 deaths since April 2020 – more than any other home in the area.

According to a CQC report from 2019, maximum occupancy for the home is 69 residents.

The CQC report shows data of individual care homes across the country between April 10, 2020, and March 31, 2021.

Statistics classify the deaths as ‘involving Covid-19’ and categorise the care homes based on size, with each listed as either medium or large.

Magna Care Centre is categorised as large and Muscliff Nursing Home in Bournemouth has the highest number of deaths attributed to a medium size home - with 14.

Conversely, nine care homes in the region have registered just one death from Covid.

A Magna Care Centre spokesperson said: “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with family members and loved ones who have lost someone to Covid-19. The health, safety and wellbeing of our residents and colleagues has always been our absolute priority.

“We are grateful to our colleagues who have always worked to put our residents first and provided the highest quality of care and support during this difficult and challenging time.

“We have always followed the advice of the UK Government and Public Health England when implementing policies and procedures, and have frequently gone above and beyond requirements including proactively sourcing PPE, introducing routine testing and only accepting admissions who have a negative Covid swab result.

“With the rollout of the vaccination programme for residents and colleagues, and on-going testing, we continue in our endeavours to prevent future outbreaks and protect our residents and colleagues.”

The data covers deaths of residents involving Covid under the care of the provider as notified to CQC, regardless of where the virus was contracted or where the death occurred, including in the care home, in hospital, in an ambulance or in any other setting.

Kate Terroni, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care, said: “In considering this data, it is important to remember that every number represents a life lost – and families, friends and those who cared for them who are having to face the sadness and consequences of their death.

“We have a duty to be transparent and to act in the public interest, and we made a commitment to publish data at this level, but only once we felt able to do so as accurately and safely as possible. It is important to be clear, however, that although this data relates to deaths of people who were care home residents, many of them did not die in or contract Covid-19 in a care home.

“As we publish this data, we ask for consideration and respect to be shown to people living in care homes, to families who have been affected, and to the staff who have done everything they could, in incredibly difficult circumstances, to look after those in their care.”