News

Care Campaign for the Vulnerable supported by leading law firm, Slater and Gordon UK, calling for a Public Inquiry on the handling of care homes during the Covid pandemic. Read S&G here https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/newsroom/CCFTV-calls-for-care-home-public-inquiry/

Care Campaign for the Vulnerable (CCFTV) Official Statement

CCFTV continues to call for a public enquiry to review the impact of Government and Local Authority decision making that resulted in the premature death of so many elderly vulnerable people in Care Homes at the onset of the pandemic. It is important to ensure their families understand what protections were provided to Care Homes to halt the transmission of infection from hospitals and why if as the Health Secretary stated, 'a ring of steel was placed around the care sector’ did so many vulnerable people in care homes become ill and disproportionately suffer as a section of the population.

An enquiry would confirm what resources were available for care home staff to protect both them and residents, why families were excluded for such a very long time from visiting loved ones, why so many residents died alone and without being able to say farewell to their families, why inspections by regulators were withdrawn and why no technologies were adopted to ensure independent review could have been undertaken remotely to confirm that the quality of service was unaffected.

Families have so many unanswered questions that require a response. Those families today are without loved ones, yet know very little about the circumstances surrounding the passing of that family member. Others have images of resident deterioration sent by staff during the lockout or taken at a window visit, but with no explanation ever being provided to explain the significant decline in health.

Most families are grateful for all that care workers do, but many believe that by not ceasing admissions from hospitals at the onset (because providers appear to have been encouraged to take hospital discharges who often didn’t have Covid clearance) the transmission of infection was rife and that as a result, the welfare of their elderly loved one was essentially sacrificed to ensure hospital bed capacity was created. Families also recall limited or no PPE in those early days of the Covid outbreak, with many homes appearing under-resourced. Far too many were also were dependent upon agency staff who appeared to be working across different locations and for different providers. That must surely have resulted in transmitting infection between homes.

CCFTV will continue to call for an inquiry to ensure lessons have been learned, that suffering families have closure and that the sector is much better prepared in the event of such a catastrophe ever happening again.