Harry Quilter-Pinner
Senior Research Fellow at IPPR
Harry Quilter-Pinner is a Senior Research Fellow at IPPR
When the coronavirus crisis first hit the UK, the greatest fear was that it would overwhelm the NHS. Ministers and clinicians had seen the catastrophic impact overseas – in first-rate health care systems such as Italy’s – and worried that hospitals here faced total collapse. Thanks to swift and concerted efforts, that fear has not been realised.
However, it is now clear that Covid-19 has hit hardest in this country’s care homes instead. New data from the Office for National Statistics shows that the number of deaths recorded in care homes in England and Wales this year is more than double the average from previous years. This is a national tragedy. Families across the country are grieving for loved ones.
