The government’s focus on the NHS at the outset of the pandemic left social care providers “neglected” and staff "exposed” by a lack of PPE, according to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
In its ‘Covid-19: Government procurement and supply of PPE’ report, the PAC said the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) provided NHS trusts with 1.9 billion items of PPE between March and July 2020, equivalent to 80 per cent of their estimated need.
In contrast, it provided the adult social care sector with 331m items of PPE, equivalent to ten per cent of its estimated need.
This, the PAC said, left the social care workforce in an “appalling situation” of caring for people with Covid-19 or suspected Covid-19 without sufficient equipment to protect themselves from infection.
The report notes that around 25,000 patients were discharged to care homes from hospitals, some without being tested for Covid-19, even after it became clear that people could transmit the virus without having symptoms.
“This contributed significantly to the deaths in care homes during the first wave. Social care was only taken seriously after the high mortality rate in care homes became apparent.”
The PAC said the pandemic has shown the “tragic impact” of delaying much needed social care reform and treating the sector as the NHS’s “poor relation”.
The report recommends DHSC should write to the Committee by the end of April to explain how it will revise its emergency response plans so that they include who will be supported, how and when.
“This must give appropriate weight to all sectors of health and social care, as well as occupations outside these sectors which are also at risk,” it said.
PAC chairwoman Meg Hillier added: “Frontline workers were left without adequate supplies, risking their own and their families’ lives to provide treatment and care.
"We’re at a dangerous new phase of the pandemic, in our third national lockdown with no defined end in sight. The government needs to acknowledge the errors and be better prepared."
