VoiceAbility joins call for Covid-19 inquiry into deaths at home
VoiceAbility joins Hospice UK in calling on the pending Covid-19 inquiry to include an investigation into the significant increase in deaths in private homes during the peaks of the pandemic.
While many people do express a preference to die at home, Hospice UK’s analysis suggests that nearly 67,000 people who died at home since the start of the pandemic will not have had the specialist care they needed. However, according to the draft terms of reference, the current scope of the inquiry only includes hospitals and care homes.
We do not know whether people died at home by choice or if they stayed home out of fear of COVID-19 infection, being refused visitors in hospital, or putting pressure on the NHS. Most worryingly, we do not know whether these people had ‘good deaths’ or if the health and care system was sufficiently equipped to care for them. We believe that many thousands may have died at home since the beginning of the pandemic without the palliative and end of life care they needed.