CG Reports

CG REPORT 6: Effects of COVID-19 in Care Homes – A Mixed Methods Review

Download Full PDF | medRxiv | Summary & Key Findings

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted those living in care homes at the highest risk for severe outcomes. However, the pandemic only highlighted and exacerbated a long-running problem: underfunding, poor structural layout, undertraining, under-skilling, under-equipping, and finally, lack of humanity in dealing with the most vulnerable members of society. Neglect, thirst, and hunger were – and possibly still are – the biggest killers.

This report aimed to address three main questions:

This report provides an up-to-date review of the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in care homes. We used a mixed methods approach to assess care home mortality by country, how the deaths compared with previous periods, and how excess deaths may be explained. We retrieved national datasets for 25 countries on mortality, 17 cohort studies assessing deaths compared to a previous period, and 16 cohort studies reporting interventions or factors associated with excess mortality.