CQC examination reveals South East hardest hit by care home coronavirus deaths

  • Watch John Ryall's report on the CQC examination

A woman who lost her father in the worst days of the covid pandemic has welcomed a new report by the Care Quality Commission into the deaths in residential homes.

The CQC admitted that the virus has been 'devastating' for so many homes and said that lessons have been learned.

Jean Adamson, whose father Aldrick was one of the Windrush arrivals in the 1950s, was not able to visit him as he lay dying at a home in South Essex.

She told ITV Meridian that the elderly were "lambs to the slaughter and didn't stand a chance," during the pandemic. A Care Quality Commission examination has revealed that the South East was the region hardest hit.

It is now known that many elderly people took Covid into care homes after being discharged from hospitals without tests, as the NHS was favoured when it came to testing and PPE.

  • Nadra Ahmed, National Care Association

Nadra Ahmed, National Care Association said care homes should have been at the top of the list when looking at mitigation of risk. She adds: "They were in fact almost overlooked."

The CQC report shows care home deaths in Brighton and Hove among the highest in the country.

  • Labour MP Peter Kyle on the crisis in care homes

Peter Kyle, MP for Hove said people who died in care homes often ended their days with a lonely and difficult death. He said: "We should at least have been able to give them a good death."

Campaign group Healthwatch Brighton and Hove said the CQC breakdown of deaths is shocking but should not be used to attack the care home sector.

David Liley, Healthwatch, Brighton and Hove said staff in both care homes and the NHS were "heroic" in the way coped during the crisis.

The CQC report has brought renewed calls for a full public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic.

Nadra Ahmed, National Care Association said: "people who lost loved ones need to have some sort of closure."

Staff and the families of those who died face a long wait because while the public inquiry may start next spring, it could take years to complete.