The care sector was “an afterthought” during the Covid-19 pandemic, and government failures caused the virus to spread “like wildfire” among vulnerable and elderly people, a public inquiry has found.
Heather Hallett, who is leading the Covid-19 inquiry, said it was a “significant omission” that the government did not advise that patients discharged from hospitals into care homes should be isolated, causing the virus to spread rapidly among residents and staff.
She also said preventing visits to care homes led to “immense emotional harm” for residents and left them with “profound isolation and a sense of abandonment”.
“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,” she said.
“Care homes received insufficient protection at the time they most needed it. These failures created environments in care settings in which the virus could spread like wildfire.
“Most distressingly, some people were not permitted to be with their dying loved ones. Many remain racked by a guilt that they do not deserve to carry.”
More than 43,000 people died from Covid-19 in UK care homes between March 2020 and July 2022.
Lady Hallett’s report, published on Tuesday, focuses specifically on adult social care and residential homes and is the sixth of 10 to be published by the inquiry.
It is the most expensive public inquiry in the country’s history, costing more than £200m, and has so far made 55 recommendations on how the country can better prepare for future pandemics.
The former health secretary Matt Hancock was called to give evidence in which he took responsibility for the government decision to discharge untested hospital patients into care homes at the start of the pandemic.
In March and April 2020, about 25,000 hospital patients were discharged into care homes across England to free up NHS bed space before mandatory testing was introduced on 15 April 2020. The policy was later ruled unlawful by the high court.
Hancock told the inquiry it was the “least worst decision to a terrible problem”.
Hallett said the policy was necessary to free up hospital beds, but she criticised the government for not advising care homes to isolate discharged patients.
She also rejected Hancock’s long-held claim that he threw a “protective ring” around care homes from the start of the pandemic, saying it was “unfounded”.
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She makes eight key recommendations in the report, which include better pandemic planning, financial support to help social care staff to self-isolate, guidance on visiting restrictions and better inspection during lockdowns.
Her report is also highly critical of the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for care home staff, describing it as “wholly unacceptable”.
She describes how people resorted to using “festival waterproof ponchos, painters’ overalls and gloves purchased from DIY shops”, as well as making their own PPE from fabric, bin bags and bed linen.
She also notes the emotional toll on staff, saying: “The scale of death and suffering witnessed by social care staff […] was unlike anything they had seen before.”
Hallett says this led to post-traumatic stress and suicidal thoughts, with a number of care workers killing themselves.
“The action taken by the UK government and devolved administrations to try and protect workers and users of adult social care came too late. My recommendations must be acted upon now before the next pandemic strikes,” she said.
