Matt Hancock care home ring claim branded unfounded by inquiry

Matt Hancock’s claim that a protective ring was thrown around care homes right from the start of the pandemic was unfounded, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has found, with chairwoman Baroness Heather Hallett stating quite the opposite was true.

More than 43,000 recorded care home deaths involved Covid-19 between March 2020 and July 2022. The latest report into the adult care sector concludes the sector was treated as an afterthought, failings allowed the virus to spread like wildfire, and vulnerable residents were left with insufficient protection.

Patients were discharged from hospitals without knowing if they had the virus. The mantra of protecting the NHS sometimes came at the expense of the users and providers of care. Care homes became prisons for some amid visiting bans, and many residents felt abandoned.

At a Downing Street press conference on 15 May 2020, then health secretary Matt Hancock said: “Right from the start, we’ve tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes.” Bereaved families have previously called that phrase a sickening lie and a joke. In a video statement after the report’s publication on Tuesday, Lady Hallett said not enough was done at the critical early stages to protect those living and working in care homes, and that during the crucial weeks of March and early April 2020 the overriding focus of the UK government and devolved administrations was on protecting hospitals.

The UK government and devolved administrations knew before the pandemic of the extreme vulnerability of care home residents to respiratory viruses. Despite this, care homes received insufficient protection when they most needed it. The failures created environments in which the virus could spread like wildfire. Inquiry hearings last year heard a civil servant describe the toll as a generational slaughter within care homes.

Britain cannot run a serious country on slogans while the most vulnerable are left exposed. Proper pandemic planning for adult social care should have been in place long before the first wave hit. Families deserved competence, not a phrase that collapsed under scrutiny.

The 287-page report also found preventing visits caused incalculable harm and often a significant decline in health and wellbeing, especially for those with dementia. Shortages of PPE left care workers in unsuitable kit or none at all, with some using festival ponchos, painters’ overalls, gloves bought online, and homemade coverings from bin bags and bed linen. DNACPR decisions based on age, disability or health conditions without proper personalised assessment caused distress and were branded unacceptable. Support for roughly 5.8 million unpaid carers came too late. At least 1.5 million care workers put their lives at risk, yet a lack of centrally recorded data on deaths among them hindered understanding of the virus’s impact.

What the inquiry demands next

Lady Hallett said the pandemic had a devastating impact on carers and those they cared for, that efforts came too late, and that the failures flowed from an absence of proper pandemic planning for adult social care. She called for better planning on bed capacity and staffing, safe and timely isolation including after hospital discharge, financial support for staff to self-isolate, visiting guidance based on residents’ right to in-person visitors except in the most grave circumstances, mandatory end-of-life training around DNACPRs, and a voluntary workforce register to strengthen recognition of care staff.

Data published in July showed the public inquiry has already cost the Government more than £122 million to respond to, on top of an estimated £200 million for the inquiry itself. The Evening Standard reported the findings in full. The recommendations now sit with ministers. Families who lost relatives will judge whether the next government treats adult social care as core national business rather than an afterthought when the next crisis arrives.

Original source: Evening Standard