The UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 6 report, released on October 20, 2026, reveals shocking details of how the adult social care sector was treated. The inquiry was led by its chairwoman, Baroness Heather Hallett. The report’s findings indicate that all four UK governments prioritized protecting NHS capacity at the expense of the care sector. The report records 43,000 deaths among care home residents between March 2020 and July 2022.
Systemic Failures in Hospital Discharge
In March and April 2020, approximately 25,000 patients were rapidly discharged from NHS hospitals into adult residential and care homes. The intention was to clear beds for an expected wave of patients requiring acute care for COVID-19. The patients were not tested before being discharged from hospitals and placed into care homes.
Asymptomatic and untested individuals were moved into concentrated populations of elderly residents and others at high risk. This was done “without any mandatory protective quarantine measures until mid-April 2020. Official guidelines issued in March 2020 across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland did not require isolation or quarantine for those discharged from hospitals into care homes. Consequently, these transfers risked introducing the virus into care homes.
The report also dismissed claims by then Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Hancock had claimed that the government had established a “protective ring” around the UK’s care homes from the start of the epidemic. The report suggests the opposite is true.
Conditions in Care Homes During COVID-19
Care home staff faced the virus without adequate personal protective equipment (PPE). The workers had no choice but to improvise using household rubbish bags, festival rain ponchos, painters’ overalls, and domestic bed linen. The report links these conditions to long-standing underfunding, staff shortages, and inadequate management.
Additionally, extreme and blanket visitor bans were imposed on care facilities. The report reveals that this caused immense emotional harm to residents. They experienced feelings of profound isolation and abandonment. Thousands of residents died completely alone.
Inquiry Recommendations
Baroness Hallett set out eight recommendations to restructure the UK’s emergency frameworks. The recommendations call for the adult social care sector to be fully integrated into the national emergency response framework from day one. Moreover, future pandemic planning must reject blanket visitor bans for clarity to ensure that residents are never isolated from family support.
Most importantly, national procurement systems must account for the social care sector. Emergency stockpiles and distribution networks must treat care home staff with the same priority as hospital personnel. Moreover, funding models should be established to provide financial support to social care staff.
