Covid inquiry report 'must show who was responsible for care home decisions that cost so many lives'

A major report into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the care sector must reveal who was to blame for the decisions that “cost so many lives".

Campaigners say families were let down ‘catastrophically” during the pandemic and it “must never be allowed to happen again". The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is the biggest public inquiry in British history and has already branded government inaction "inexcusable."

The inquiry was told there had been more than 43,000 deaths involving the virus in care homes across the UK between March 2020 and July 2022. During the public hearings, the deaths were described as a "generational slaughter within care homes" and a "cull of older people who could no longer contribute to the society."

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It was told when the pandemic hit in early 2020, hospital patients were rapidly discharged into care homes in a bid to free up beds and prevent the NHS from becoming overwhelmed. But there was no policy in place to ensure patients were tested before admission, or for asymptomatic patients to isolate, until mid-April.

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is an independent investigation into the UK’s response to and impact of the pandemic, chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett. It began in June 2023 and the public hearings finished in March this year. Its ten modules covered preparedness, political decision making, health and social care, vaccines, procurement, test and trace, children and young people, the economic response and the wider impact on society.

Their findings for each module are being published in separate reports and on Tuesday it will publish its sixth report, called the ‘Care Sector’. The final report is expected to be complete by mid-2027.

Speaking ahead of publication, a spokesperson for Covid19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK (CBFFJ) said: "This report must establish who was responsible for the decisions that cost so many lives. Bereaved families have fought for this inquiry to prevent others suffering as we have.

"Its findings must force action on the years of neglect that left social care so dangerously unprepared. Another promise to fix the system, followed by more delay, would be an unforgivable betrayal of those who died."

Nicola Brook, a solicitor from Broudie Jackson Canter, which represents more than 7,000 families from Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK (CBFFJ) said: "The pandemic showed us that we have a fragile and underfunded system which is reliant on underpaid and unpaid carers. Older people in receipt of care and their families were catastrophically let down. Many died before their time as a result and in a manner that was inhumane. That must never be allowed to happen again."

Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams said: "We are eager to read the inquiry's recommendations on how we can avoid a similar disaster befalling care homes again, and how we can better protect both staff and residents at times of medical or other emergency.