Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will respond to the finding of Marie Curie’s report of 8 April 2021, Better End of Life Report 2021, that stated there were more deaths at home throughout 2020, not just during the pandemic peaks; and what plans his Department has to investigate the quality of care received by people who died at home during the covid-19 outbreak.

We know that as a result of the pandemic, there was an unprecedented increase in the number of deaths overall in 2020 and an increase in the proportion of those dying at home. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the body with statutory responsibility for monitoring, inspecting and regulating services that provide regulated activities within health and social care, to ensure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety.

Palliative care providers, including those for people at the end of their lives receiving care at home, are routinely inspected by the CQC and assessed on the quality of palliative care they provide. During the pandemic the CQC suspended routine inspections to reduce the pressure on health and social care services but continued to monitor providers using a range of information, including feedback from people that use services and their families. However, if information of significant concern was received the CQC continued to undertake physical inspections to ensure people that use services were safe.