Response to the draft terms of the Covid-19 inquiry

Dominic Carter, Head of Policy and Research at Hospice UK, said: "It is incredibly concerning that a focus on the huge rise of deaths at home is missing from the draft terms of the Covid-19 inquiry.

"Its omission is not right, nor is it acceptable.

"There have been more than 100,000 excess deaths in private homes across the UK during the pandemic so far. Consequently, we estimate that at least 67,000 people are likely to have missed out on the specialist palliative care they needed, such as adequate pain relief, with support needs often falling on the shoulders of friends and family.

"Without a closer investigation into what happened to people dying at home, we won't know what they experienced and thousands more could still miss out on the expert care they deserve.

"Vital lessons need to be learned from the experiences of people dying at home to uncover crucial information needed by Government, local systems and the health and care workforce to better support people at the end of life now."