![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Covid-bereaved-families-tribute-wall-Nicola-Brook-800x400.jpg\")
<\/p>\n22 October 2026<\/p>\n
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The National Covid Memorial Wall in London. Credit: Nicola Brook \/ Broudie Jackson Canter.<\/p>\n
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The care sector was treated as an \u201cafterthought\u201d as Government failures caused Covid-19 to spread \u201clike wildfire\u201d among disabled and older residents of care homes, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry\u2019s Module 6 report has found.<\/p>\n
The Inquiry\u2019s report<\/a>, published on Tuesday (20 October 2026) by Chair Baroness Heather Hallett, set out a number of findings from Module 6, which investigated how UK Government decisions affected domiciliary care providers, care homes, and people drawing on adult social care support.<\/p>\n Baroness Hallett described the Government\u2019s failure to advise that patients discharged from hospitals into care homes should be isolated was a \u201csignificant omission\u201d, causing the virus to spread rapidly among care home residents and staff.<\/p>\n More than 43,000 care home residents died from Covid-19 in England and Wales between March 2020 and January 2022, many of them in the early weeks of the pandemic.<\/p>\n As put by Garden Court North\u2019s Pete Weatherby KC in an opening submission<\/a> on behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice (CBFFJ) UK, this amounted to a \u201cgenerational slaughter within care homes\u201d.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The \u201cprotective ring\u201d around care homes \u2013 \u201ca cruel lie\u201d <\/p>\n The report also found that the so-called \u201cprotective ring\u201d around care homes described by former Health Secretary Matt Hancock did not exist.<\/p>\n CBFFJ UK, represented by Garden Court North\u2019s Covid-19 Inquiry Team, said in a statement<\/a> that the report provided a \u201cdevastating account of one of the darkest episodes in our country\u2019s history\u201d, and described Mr Hancock\u2019s claim to have thrown a \u201cprotective ring\u201d around care homes as a \u201ccruel lie\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking on behalf of CBFFJ UK, Jean Adamson told The Guardian<\/a> that \u201cthe Government knew the care sector was extremely vulnerable to a pandemic and yet did nothing \u2013 failing to act until it was too late. The most at-risk people in our society, the sick, elderly \u2013 many of whom had a full and long life ahead of them \u2013 were failed by a Government who abandoned them and left them to die.\u201d<\/p>\n Adamson added that the report \u201cdoesn\u2019t go far enough\u201d in its recommendations and that CBFFJ UK felt \u201creally let down in several places\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to look at them in more detail, and aim to strengthen them, make them more robust. Because we don\u2019t want to be standing in this place in 10 years\u2019 time, trying to learn the same lessons all over again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n For Module 6, Garden Court North\u2019s Covid Inquiry team comprised Pete Weatherby KC<\/a>, Anna Morris KC<\/a> and Ciara Bartlam<\/a> instructed by Nicola Brook of Broudie Jackson Canter to represent CBFFJ UK.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Additional media<\/p>\n UK Covid-19 Inquiry \u2013 Module 6 Report: Care Sector<\/a><\/p>\n UK Covid-19 Inquiry \u2013 Module 6 Report \u2018In Brief\u2019 summary: Care Sector<\/a><\/p>\n The Guardian \u2013 UK government failures led to Covid spreading \u2018like wildfire\u2019 in care homes, inquiry finds<\/a><\/p>\n The Mirror \u2013 Covid inquiry report \u2018must show who was responsible for care home decisions that cost so many lives\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Garden Court North Chambers \u2013 Covid-19 Inquiry: Module 6 hears about \u201cforced\u201d discharging of hospital patients without testing and \u201cgenerational slaughter\u201d in care homes<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n For further information, please contact\u00a0Alex Blair<\/a>, Communications Manager at Garden Court North Chambers:\u00a0ablair@gcnchambers.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n Share this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"22 October 2026 The National Covid Memorial Wall in London. Credit: Nicola Brook \/ Broudie Jackson Canter. \u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-810253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}