UK inquiry finds care homes inadequately protected in pandemic

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has found that adult social care was inadequately prepared and protected during the pandemic, rejecting the claim that a protective ring had been placed around care homes from the start. Its sixth report, published October 20, says failures in planning and early protections exposed residents and staff to risk, while prolonged visiting restrictions caused serious harm. More than 43,000 deaths involving Covid-19 were recorded in UK care homes between March 2020 and July 2022, according to the report. That total is not a count of deaths caused by hospital transfers. The inquiry said it could not determine how many infections were attributable to patients discharged from hospitals into care homes. The report says governments prioritised protecting hospitals in the early weeks of the pandemic and treated adult social care as an afterthought. Patients were discharged to care homes to free hospital beds when testing capacity was limited. England, Wales and Northern Ireland initially lacked guidance to isolate newly admitted hospital patients; Scotland advised isolation earlier. The inquiry identified the omission as a significant gap but did not quantify its...