The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will publish from 21 July the number of Covid deaths at every care home in England.
The data will show notifications received by the regulator from individual care homes relating to deaths of people with Covid-19 between 10 April 2020 and 31 March 2021, as well as how many death notifications received in a local authority area.
That is in addition to the data the CQC already publishes on a weekly basis with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the total number of care home residents who have died with Covid.
“This date has been chosen primarily because our analysts, and colleagues from ONS, believe that it will allow enough time to complete the additional quality assurance processes required for publication,” a spokeswoman said.
“Providers will be given advance sight of the information they have previously provided to us to ensure they have had the right conversations with people in their care and their loved ones. It will also give our board the opportunity to have a full public discussion about this data,” she added.
The move follows pressure from campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice. Previous attempts to have the data published was refused by the CQC and ruled as against the pubic interest by the Information Commissioner's Office, which argued that disclosing the information would cause residents to relocate.
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice member Jean Adamson told the Telegraph: "It is to be welcomed that the CQC has now committed to release the data on July 21, but it should never have taken this long to do so. There must be no excuses for any delay. Residents and their families have a right to know the truth."
