A REPORT published today by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reflects the devastating impact of the coronavirus on communities, families, and specifically, care home settings across the UK.

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, a full set of figures showing the number of deaths registered as COVID-19 for each individual care home in the UK has been published in one place.

In the full report, the CQC presents the data on the number of death notifications involving COVID-19 of care home residents across regions of England alongside government data on all COVID-19 deaths, so that people can view care home deaths against deaths in the wider community (which include deaths of care home residents) to help understand the wider impact of COVID-19 in their areas.

The CQC says that numbers of deaths notifications alone are not a reliable indicator of quality or safety in individual care homes.

“Our inspectors use all the data and information we receive about a service to monitor for indications that there is a risk to the quality of care, which may lead to an inspection,” said the monitoring body.

“Notifications of deaths are only one of these indications, but they are not in themselves a good predictor of poor-quality care, particularly given the potential influence of variable factors, including rates of local community transmission and size of the care home. Other variable factors include the characteristics of people living in the care home, including their age, health and care needs, and whether they are from Black and minority ethnic groups, for whom the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of everyone in the UK, and for some its impact has been intense, or even devastating, says the CQC. This impact is likely to have been felt particularly by those using, and working in, health and social care services.

In many cases, the loss of a loved one has been made even harder for the relatives and friends of people in care homes who were unable to be as near to them as they would have wished in their final days and weeks due to COVID-19 restrictions. Losses will also have been felt by the staff who have cared for and supported them, and who may have built up a relationship over years.

The data covers deaths of residents involving COVID-19 under the care of the provider as notified to the CQC between April 2020 and March 2021, regardless of where the death occurred, including in the care home, in a hospital, in an ambulance or any other setting. For example, a resident may have been admitted to hospital with a fracture and contracted COVID-19 while in hospital, and then subsequently died. The provider must notify CQC of the death of their resident and that this was involving COVID-19, but this alone would not indicate that the care home had positive cases of COVID-19.

“In considering the data, it is important to remember that every number represents a life lost, and families and friends who are having to face the sadness and consequences of their death. It is also an opportunity to reflect on the dedication of those who worked to save and comfort lives.”

In the UK as a whole since the start of the pandemic there have been 153,070 deaths where COVID-19 is mentioned as a cause on the death certificate, and 39,017 of these have been registered with the CQC as from a care home setting.

In Cornwall, there have been 579 COVID-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic and 202 of these were registered with the CQC by care homes.

The CQC points out that an additional set of deaths registered by care homes is not visible in the care home data, because it has been recorded by small care homes with ten residents or fewer: these care home settings were not identified.

Deaths in care homes in North Cornwall and Holsworthy area registered with the CQC between April 10 2020 and March 31 2021:

Appleby Lodge, Kelly Bray — 2

Belmont House Nursing Home, Bodmin — 1

The White House Care Home, Bodmin — 1

Pendrea House, Bodmin — 2

Chyvarhas, Callington — 9

Hillsborough Residential Home, Callington — 4

Addison Park, Callington — 2

Cedar Grange, Launceston — 3

Kernow House, Launceston — 9

Pendruccombe House, Launceston — 1

Pen Inney House, Lewannick — 2

Springfield House Residential Care Home, North Hill — 3

St Anne’s Residential Home, Whitstone — 1

Devon:

Deer Park Care Home, Holsworthy — 8

Southlands Court Residential Home, Bridgerule — 1