Hearings begin on the impact of the pandemic on adult social care at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry this morning.

Campaign groups, John’s Campaign, Care Rights UK and Patients Association are Core Participants in the Inquiry module and will be represented by the human rights team at law firm Leigh Day in Covid Inquiry Module 6 as they aim to ensure the voices of people needing care, their families and care providers are fully heard.

Helen Wildbore, director of Care Rights UK, said: “People relying on care services were some of the worst affected by the government’s mismanagement of the pandemic. They were subject to one of the most sustained attacks on their human rights we have ever seen. The Inquiry’s spotlight will, finally, be on social care and the questions families have been asking for four years will have to be answered.” 

Leigh Day solicitor Beatrice Morgan will address the first of the Module 6 hearings at Dorland House in Paddington.  

The groups have also made written submissions which highlight the need for the Inquiry to properly consider and assess amongst other things:  

• The experiences of people living in care homes and supported living facilities and their loved ones during the pandemic.
• The experiences of those working in the care sector as well as of others who provided care, including unpaid care.  
• The use of Do Not Resuscitate decisions. 
• The discharge of people from hospital into care homes in the early part of the pandemic. 
• Infection control, access to PPE, the management of Covid-19 in care homes.  
• The (often conflicting and unclear) guidance given to care homes. 
• Whether equality and human rights laws were overlooked. 
• Whether there was sufficient oversight by regulators.

You can follow the hearing here.