Residents in care homes were treated as an “afterthought” during the Covid pandemic and effectively sacrificed in the effort to “protect the NHS”, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has concluded.
More than 43,000 care home residents died after infected hospital patients were discharged into facilities without adequate safeguards, allowing the virus to spread “like wildfire”.
The inquiry chair, Baroness Heather Hallett, said there was no evidence to support former health secretary Matt Hancock’s claim that ministers had placed a “protective ring” around care homes “right from the start”.
Many homes lacked the space and resources to isolate new arrivals safely. Testing was insufficient, while care workers were left without enough personal protective equipment (PPE), forcing some to use bin bags and waterproof ponchos instead.
Measures to protect residents and staff were introduced “too late”, the inquiry found, with “devastating consequences”.
Between March 17 and April 15, 2020, about 25,000 patients were moved from hospitals into care homes as officials sought to free up beds for the expected surge in Covid cases.
As infections raced through the country, visiting bans also left care home residents feeling “isolated, abandoned and alone”. In some cases, they were separated from their families for months.
Restrictions meant people were often unable to sit beside dying relatives or friends in their final moments, leaving families “grief-stricken”.
The Covid-19 Inquiry found that vulnerable care home residents were treated as an “afterthought” and sacrificed in the effort to “protect the NHS”. Pictured: former health secretary Matt Hancock
Baroness Heather Hallett, chair of the Covid-19 Inquiry, said Matt Hancock’s claim that ministers had created a “protective ring” around care homes was unfounded
The Daily Mail campaigned for care home residents to be reunited with their families during the pandemic, calling it “shameful” that “cruel” restrictions had cut them off from loved ones.
MPs later praised the campaign in Parliament. The Government eventually permitted visits ahead of Christmas 2020, with testing and PPE introduced to reduce the risks.
Baroness Hallett said the visiting rules caused “enormous harm”, contributing to a “significant decline” in the wellbeing of some residents, particularly those living with dementia.
Although she welcomed the partial easing of the restrictions, she said the benefits of family contact should have been recognised much earlier.
She concluded: “Many [relatives] remain racked by a guilt that they do not deserve to carry.”
The inquiry found that the Government had been aware before the pandemic that care home residents were “extremely vulnerable” to respiratory viruses. Despite this, they received “insufficient protection at the time they most needed it”.
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The failures were rooted in inadequate planning before the pandemic began.
Exercise Cygnus, a pandemic preparedness programme carried out in October 2016, warned that more work was needed to guarantee sufficient surge capacity in care homes. That work had not been completed when Covid-19 arrived.
The report said completing those preparations might have “helped ensure the safe isolation of all people admitted to care homes”.
Baroness Hallett said: “The adult social care sector as a whole appeared to be something of an afterthought, where the mantra of ‘protecting the NHS’ sometimes came at the expense of the users and providers of care.”
‘The failures set out in this report created environments in care settings in which the virus could spread like wildfire.’
The inquiry examined concerns about ‘Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation’ decisions.
It found some were made inappropriately or without proper consultation, based on a person’s age, health condition or learning disability.
The failure to give staff adequate PPE was ‘wholly unacceptable’ and the care sector’s role in society has been ‘undervalued and under-recognised’ for too long, it added.
Established in June 2022, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, which has cost more than £200million, is expected to publish its final report in the summer of 2027.
The report into the care sector, the sixth of ten modules, has eight key recommendations.
They include better planning for the safe isolation of care home residents, financial support for staff so they can afford to isolate if infected, new guidelines on visiting restrictions and mandatory end-of-life training for health and social care workers.
Professor Martin Green, chief executive of trade body Care England, said: ‘Pressure in hospitals must never again be relieved by transferring unmanaged risk into adult social care.
‘The inquiry’s recommendations are essential, but the real test now is implementation.’
Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government would respond fully to the report ‘in due course’.
She added: ‘My thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones in the pandemic, and especially those who endured the immense distress and harm of visiting restrictions in care homes, which meant they could not be with loved ones even as they died.
‘I also pay tribute to all those who work to protect the most vulnerable in very difficult circumstances, from care workers to family members.’