Every Death Is A Tragedy

Care England, the largest representative body for independent providers of adult social care, expresses its deepest sympathies to the relatives of all those care home residents and staff who have died of COVID-19.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:

“Care homes have been right at the front line of this dreadful pandemic. My thoughts go out to all those bereaved relatives as well as those dedicated staff who have been on high alert often working around the clock with no end in sight as well as all bereaved relatives. Every death is a tragedy and it would be highly disrespectful if lessons were not learned at every level. Similarly, every death needs to be seen in context”.

Today the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will publish data on the number of COVID-19 related deaths in care homes between 10 April 2020 and 31 March 2021. The data clearly shows the human tragedy which lies behind the statistics and our thoughts are with the bereaved families and the dedicated staff who worked so hard to protect their residents.

Care England has been in correspondence with CQC over the last nine months with a comprehensive list of queries outlining providers’ concerns about both the timing of the data being published and seeking assurance that it will be released in context. Context is vital in order that the data can be used by people who use services and their families to make informed decisions about care. At such a precarious time, Care England wants to ensure that there is nationally led support for care providers to continue to deliver high quality care.

Martin Green continues:

“It is important that the statistics are seen in context and that the entire system learns lessons from this data. We do not believe that this data is a reflection of quality and I would like to pay tribute to all the frontline staff who have done a heroic job and it must not be forgotten that many of them lost their lives too”.