Covid inquiry says care sector was left vulnerable as governments focused on hospitals

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry said on Tuesday that failures to protect adult social care early in the pandemic left care settings vulnerable to the rapid spread of the virus. Its sixth report examines care across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including residential homes, professional care in people’s own homes and unpaid care by family and friends. [1]

Inquiry chair Heather Hallett said the sector as a whole appeared to be “something of an afterthought” as the UK government and devolved administrations focused on protecting hospitals. Shortages of testing and protective equipment, inadequate planning and early policy decisions created conditions in which the virus “could spread like wildfire”, she said. The inquiry also rejected the then health secretary Matt Hancock’s claim that a “protective ring” had been placed around care homes. [2] [3]

More than 43,000 deaths involving Covid were recorded in care homes between March 2020 and July 2022, according to the BBC. That figure conveys the scale of the loss; it does not measure how many deaths were caused by particular policy failures. [2]

On the discharge of hospital patients into care homes, the inquiry drew a distinction: freeing hospital beds at the start of the pandemic was understandable, but guidance should have told homes to isolate those patients. It called the absence of that advice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland a significant oversight. [2] [3]

The report also described the harm caused by visiting restrictions. According to the BBC, it found that many homes did not ease restrictions in line with updated guidance, even after evidence suggested visitors posed only a marginal infection risk by September 2020. Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government would respond fully to the inquiry’s recommendations in due course. [2]