Covid Inquiry exposes ‘cruel lie’ of care home protection claims

THE UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s damning report into pandemic social care has exposed then-Tory health secretary Matt Hancock’s claims to have thrown a “protective ring” around care homes as a “cruel lie,” bereaved families said today. Inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett found vulnerable residents and care workers alike were left with “insufficient protection” as patients were discharged from hospitals into care homes without knowing if they carried the virus. The “devastating impact” of the policy “created environments in care settings in which the virus could spread like wildfire,” leading to what one civil servant described to the inquiry as a “generational slaughter within care homes” as 43,000 residents died of the virus between March 2020 and July 2022. Directly addressing Mr Hancock’s May 2020 claim that “right from the start, we’ve tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes,” Baroness Hallett said: “The claim that a so-called ‘protective ring’ had been thrown around care homes — ‘right from the start’ — was unfounded. “Quite the opposite was true.” Age UK director Caroline Abrahams branded the report “quietly devastating” and insisted that “fundamental social care reform” is required, arguing that if a National Care Service had been in place, some of the disasters would have been lessened or avoided altogether. Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK’s Jean Adamson, daughter of Windrush pioneer Aldrick Adamson, who died having caught Covid in his care home, called the report “a devastating account of one of the darkest episodes in our country’s history.” She added: “It shows that Matt Hancock’s claim to have thrown a protective ring around care homes was a cruel lie.” The report said the adult social care sector “as a whole appeared to be something of an afterthought,” with 1.5 million care workers and 5.8 million unpaid carers left at the mercy of the virus as well as chronic shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) with some having to resort to bin bags in an effort to stay safe. Official statistics show 469 care workers went on to die from the virus. On behalf of those workers, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: ”The lack of decent pay and working conditions — combined with years of underfunding under the Tories and bad government decision-making — created the perfect storm. “And hundreds of care workers paid the ultimate price.” Unison general secretary Andrea Egan said: “These forgotten heroes, who were mostly low-paid women and disproportionately from ethnic minority backgrounds, gave everything but were abandoned and mistreated by a reckless government. “We owe it to them to ensure the same systemic failures never occur again.” GMB national officer Natalie Grayson said: “Our carers were on the front line during the pandemic — they were left vulnerable and terribly exposed as our care homes turned into morgues. “That can not be allowed to happen again.” Recognising “the pain and suffering caused by the pandemic and the lasting impact it continues to have on many people,” Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “The government is committed to learning the lessons from the inquiry and ensuring the social care sector are prepared for a future pandemic. “We will consider carefully the findings and recommendations of the report and respond in due course.”