Deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said:

"We are concerned that the support given to care homes by NHS trusts has not been fully acknowledged.

"There is a growing and damaging belief that hospitals systematically and knowingly discharged COVID-19 patients to the home care sector.

"Trusts have been working closely with local authorities and care homes to help them deal with the pressures posed by the virus.

"It is also true to say that in the early weeks of the pandemic, the vast majority of patients discharged from hospitals did not go to care homes.

"They were discharged to other settings such as community hospitals, or to their home with support from carers, as advised in national guidance.

"Health and care staff are doing their absolute best in incredibly challenging circumstances with the resources available at the time, so the blame game must stop.

"It will be for a public inquiry to establish why mortality in care homes has run so high.

"But we can see that the failures of testing to date and the supply of PPE have hit the care sector particularly hard and remain problematic.

"This is also indicative of the years of underinvestment, despite repeated government promises to resolve the crisis in social care.

"Trusts have, and will continue to support their colleagues in the care sector, reflecting our mutual dependence and shared determination to provide the best possible protection and care for those who use our services and the frontline staff who deliver them."