英国新冠疫情公共调查发现，政府在新冠疫情期间的失职导致养老院防护严重不足，使病毒在老年人和弱势群体中迅速传播。
Government failures during the COVID-19 pandemic left care homes in the UK insufficiently protected, allowing the virus to spread rapidly among elderly and vulnerable people, the country’s public inquiry into the pandemic has found.
新冠疫情调查主席希瑟·哈莱特表示，未建议从医院出院转入养老院的患者进行隔离，是一个「重大疏漏」，助长了病毒在住户和员工中扩散。
Heather Hallett, chair of the COVID-19 inquiry, said the failure to advise that patients discharged from hospitals into care homes should be isolated was a “significant omission” that contributed to the spread of the virus among residents and staff.
哈莱特说：「成人社会护理部门整体似乎是事后才想到的，『保护国民医疗服务体系（NHS）』的口号有时是以护理服务的使用者和提供者为代价的。」「养老院在最需要防护的时候却得到了不充分的保护。这些失职造成了护理环境中病毒能够『如野火般蔓延』的条件。」哈莱特还强调了禁止探视养老院带来的情感创伤，称这给住户造成了「巨大的情感伤害」，让他们经历了「深深的孤立和被遗弃感」。
“The adult social care sector as a whole appeared to be something of an afterthought, where the mantra of ‘protecting the NHS’ sometimes came at the expense of the users and providers of care,” Hallett said. “Care homes received insufficient protection at the time they most needed it. These failures created environments in care settings in which the virus could spread like wildfire.”Hallett also highlighted the emotional toll of restrictions that prevented visits to care homes, saying they caused “immense emotional harm” to residents and left them experiencing “profound isolation and a sense of abandonment.”
「最令人痛心的是，有些人不被允许陪伴弥留的亲人。许多人至今仍背负着不该由他们承担的愧疚感。」2020年3月至2022年7月期间，英国养老院有超过4.3万人死于新冠，凸显了疫情对该国成人社会护理部门造成的毁灭性冲击。
“Most distressingly, some people were not permitted to be with their dying loved ones. Many remain racked by a guilt that they do not deserve to carry,” she said. More than 43,000 people died from COVID-19 in UK care homes between March 2020 and July 2022, underscoring the devastating impact of the pandemic on the country’s adult social care sector.