The UK Covid-19 Inquiry found pandemic planning left adult social care poorly prepared and residents exposed to isolation, setting out eight recommendations for a future health emergency.
The inquiry published its sixth report Oct. 20. Module 6 examined adult social care in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, describing the sector as an afterthought in pandemic planning. It found the government failed to advise care homes to isolate patients discharged from hospitals. The inquiry also said limits on visits deepened residents’ distress and separated many from loved ones. Its account described harm to care workers as well as residents and relatives.
The report’s hospital-discharge finding follows the inquiry’s earlier examination of isolation advice during care home transfers.
The Guardian reported that relatives found the conclusions unsurprising and described lasting anger. Amy, identified only by her first name, said pandemic restrictions kept her grandparents, Eva and Eric, apart in separate care homes as Eva’s dementia and Eric’s frailty worsened. The restrictions also cut Amy off from them. She said Eric became lonely and frightened while isolated. After he contracted COVID-19 in 2022, she saw him on a hospital ward; he died soon afterward.
Catherine Bennett, a retired teacher, also described the toll on her family to The Guardian. She said her father withdrew from communal meals and activities to avoid other people. “We knew what was happening. I am, however, very angry,” Bennett said. Her father died at the care home in 2022.
The inquiry issued eight recommendations, including stronger pandemic planning, guidance on visiting restrictions and mandatory end-of-life care training. In a written statement to Parliament, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the government would consider the recommendations, respond in due course and continue developing its adult social care pandemic action plan. He gave no date for the response.
