Care home residents were treated as “something of an afterthought” as government failures during the pandemic allowed Covid-19 to “spread like wildfire,” a damning inquiry report has found, reports BritPanorama.
Baroness Heather Hallett, the retired Court of Appeal judge who chairs the Covid-19 inquiry, highlighted how the government’s ‘protecting the NHS’ mantra came “at the expense” of care patients and staff, with action being taken “too late.”
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry revealed over 43,000 deaths involving the virus in care homes across the UK between March 2020 and July 2022. Failures to protect the care sector created conditions that facilitated the virus’s rapid spread.
Baroness Hallett stated that the high number of deaths in care homes in April 2020 brought the situation into “sharp focus,” but she emphasized that the resultant shift in attention came “too late.”
“It caused the UK government and devolved administrations to turn their attention to the adult social care sector, as their focus until then had very much been on the response of the healthcare system and ‘protecting the NHS’,” she wrote.
“Given that it was well known that people receiving care were particularly vulnerable to any respiratory disease, let alone a deadly respiratory virus like Covid-19, that shift in focus came too late. Protective measures should have been put in place at the start of a pandemic, not once it had already taken hold.”
During hearings in 2025, a civil servant described the toll as a “generational slaughter within care homes.”
The inquiry found that the adult social care sector as a whole appeared to be secondary, where the mantra of ‘protecting the NHS’ sometimes came at the expense of care users and providers.
The report also stated that former health secretary Matt Hancock’s claim of attempting to create a “protective ring” around care homes was unfounded, with Lady Hallett adding: “Quite the opposite was true.”
At a Downing Street press conference on May 15, 2020, Mr. Hancock had asserted, “Right from the start, we’ve tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes.”
However, the inquiry found that his statement “does not accurately reflect the lack of action taken” to protect care homes at the pandemic’s outset.
Key findings from today’s report:
- Preventing visits to care homes “caused incalculable harm to residents and their loved ones and often resulted in a significant decline in the health and wellbeing of residents.”
- Mr. Hancock’s claim he had tried to throw a “protective ring” around care homes was branded a “cruel lie” by bereaved families.
- Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for care workers forced some to use festival waterproof ponchos, painters’ overalls, and even makeshift PPE from various household items.
- Vulnerable care home residents were left with “insufficient protection” as patients were discharged from hospitals without knowledge of their Covid status.
- Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions made during the pandemic based on age or disability caused significant distress.
- Support for the approximately 5.8 million unpaid carers across the UK “came too late,” impacting their ability to provide necessary care.
The inquiry concluded: “The UK government and devolved administrations knew, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, of the extreme vulnerability of care home residents to respiratory viruses. Despite this, care homes received insufficient protection at the time they most needed it.”
Mr. Hancock stated that the phrase was “clearly a piece of rhetoric” and a “form of words rather than the substance.”
But the report indicated that while his statement may have been rhetorical, it did not reflect the situation in care homes during the initial weeks and months of the pandemic.
“Much of the action to which Mr. Hancock referred did not take place from the start,” it found, noting that testing for people discharged from hospitals into care homes began only in mid-April 2020.
By the time Mr. Hancock made his statement, thousands had died in care homes across England.
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK characterized Mr. Hancock’s claim as a “cruel lie,” with spokesperson Jean Adamson stating, “Today’s report is a devastating account of one of the darkest episodes in our country’s history.”
The inquiry confirmed that vulnerable care home residents were inadequately protected, raising serious questions about the government’s handling of the situation during urgent public health crises.
Lady Hallett noted the pandemic’s “devastating impact” on carers and care recipients, attributing failures to a lack of proper pandemic planning within the adult social care sector.
The report outlined a “severe shortage” of PPE, forcing workers into unacceptable conditions where they lacked adequate protective gear.
Care homes were described as “becoming prisons” amid visiting bans, leading many residents to feel “abandoned.”
Guidance during the pandemic did allow exceptions for end-of-life visits; however, many families still were unable to be with their loved ones.
This latest inquiry report states that the isolation caused “significant decline” in residents’ health and wellbeing, resulting in “profound and enduring effects.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham acknowledged the report’s findings, committing the government to learn lessons and develop an “action plan” for any future pandemic scenarios.
