Care home residents were sacrificed to ‘protect the NHS’ during Covid pandemic causing 43,000 deaths after failings saw virus ‘spread like wildfire’, damning inquiry finds

A Covid-19 inquiry found that care home residents were treated as an afterthought as authorities prioritised protecting the NHS. More than 43,000 residents died, and inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett said infected patients were discharged from hospitals without adequate safeguards, allowing the virus to spread rapidly.

About 25,000 patients were discharged into care homes between 17 March and 15 April 2020, despite shortages of testing, protective equipment and isolation capacity. The inquiry said pandemic planning had not addressed known risks to the sector; it also found visiting restrictions caused serious harm, some DNACPR decisions were inappropriate, and care workers were inadequately protected.