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Adult Social Care Briefing

Writer: Cheryl Baird
Cheryl Baird
2 minutes ago
7 min read

Issue 017 | 22 October 2026


This week’s briefing focuses on the publication of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s report on adult social care, updated NHS Continuing Healthcare documentation, recent CQC findings and a new funded workforce development opportunity.


This Week’s Headline

Covid-19 Inquiry Publishes Its Report on Adult Social Care

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry published its Module 6 report on the care sector on 20 October 2026. The report examines the impact of the pandemic on adult social care across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including residential care, care delivered in people’s own homes and unpaid care.


What Has Changed?

The Inquiry concluded that adult social care entered the pandemic with longstanding workforce shortages, financial pressures and limited pandemic preparedness.

It identified weaknesses in testing, isolation, hospital discharge arrangements, personal protective equipment, guidance, visiting restrictions and data collection.

The Government has said it will consider the findings and recommendations and respond in due course. It has also confirmed that the findings will inform development of an Adult Social Care Pandemic Action Plan.


Why It Matters

The report looks back at the pandemic, but many of the governance issues remain relevant. Emergency preparedness extends beyond infection prevention. Decisions about visiting, isolation, workforce availability, access to healthcare and hospital discharge can all affect people’s safety, wellbeing, independence and rights.

There is also a wider system issue for providers: how effectively adult social care is involved in decision-making, and how concerns are escalated when decisions made elsewhere create risk for people receiving care.


Actions for Providers

  • Review business continuity and emergency plans against the practical lessons from the pandemic.

  • Consider how visiting, people’s rights and access to healthcare are addressed within emergency planning.

  • Check escalation routes with commissioners, ICBs, community health services and local authorities.


NHS Continuing Healthcare

CHC Assessment Documents Updated

The Department of Health and Social Care updated the NHS Continuing Healthcare Checklist, Decision Support Tool and Fast Track Pathway Tool on 20 October 2026.

DHSC states that the documents and associated guidance were revised for ease of use and improved clarity.


What Has Changed?

The Checklist is used to identify people who may need a full assessment of eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare.

The Decision Support Tool supports multidisciplinary assessment and recommendations about eligibility.

The Fast Track Pathway Tool is for people with a rapidly deteriorating condition who may be entering a terminal phase. The revised Fast Track guidance confirms that where the criteria are met, there is no requirement to complete the Checklist or Decision Support Tool before Fast Track eligibility is established. It can be used in any setting, including where someone is already living in their own home or in a care home.


Why It Matters

For nursing homes and services supporting people with increasingly complex or deteriorating health needs, it is important that teams are using the current CHC documentation. Outdated locally stored forms can continue to circulate after national documentation has changed. The update is also a useful prompt to review whether staff understand the distinction between screening for a full CHC assessment and recognising when the Fast Track pathway may be appropriate.


Actions for Providers

  • Check that current national CHC forms are being used.

  • Remove superseded locally saved versions where these could continue to be used accidentally.

  • Review whether nurses and managers understand when Fast Track may be appropriate.

  • Make sure changes in a person’s condition are recognised, recorded and escalated to the appropriate healthcare professional.


Regulation and Quality Assurance

CQC Publishes Contrasting Care Home Findings

On 21 October, CQC published findings from three care homes that provide useful examples of the difference between sustained improvement and repeated failure to address identified concerns.

Cornelius House in Chichester was upgraded from Good to Outstanding.

Ashley Court Care Limited in Wolverhampton remained rated Inadequate and in special measures. Yarborough House RCH in Grimsby was downgraded from Requires Improvement to Inadequate and placed in special measures.


What Has Changed?

At Cornelius House, CQC highlighted personalised care, continuous improvement and changes made in response to people’s experiences. One example involved introducing a silent call-bell system after a person found the existing sound distressing. CQC also described approaches that supported independence and reduced anxiety.

At Ashley Court and Yarborough House, inspectors identified continuing concerns across areas including safe care, medicines, staffing, nutrition, repositioning and governance.

In both cases, previously identified concerns had not been sufficiently resolved.


Why It Matters

The comparison is useful because it goes beyond ratings.

At one end, feedback and individual experience were being used to shape practical improvements. At the other, identified risks remained despite previous scrutiny.

For senior leaders, that raises a familiar question: when an action is recorded as complete, what evidence confirms that practice has actually changed?


Actions for Providers

  • Revisit previously completed improvement actions and test whether changes have been sustained.

  • Compare audit findings with incidents, complaints, safeguarding information and direct observation of care.

  • Look for recurring themes across falls, nutrition, medicines, repositioning and incident reporting.

  • Make sure governance reporting distinguishes between an action being completed and improvement being demonstrated.

  • Include positive examples of changed practice and improved outcomes within assurance reporting, not only areas of failure.


Workforce Development

Free Care Workforce Pathway Support Programme Opens

Skills for Care announced on 20 October that applications are open for a free programme to support adult social care providers in England to put the Care Workforce Pathway into practice. The programme is delivered by Skills for Care and fully funded by the Department of Health and Social Care.

Applications for the January 2027 programme close on 5 January 2027.


What Has Changed?

Participating organisations will nominate a Pathway lead, attend three online workshops, develop a simple implementation plan, map at least one job role against the Pathway and begin making changes informed by the framework.

Skills for Care says the programme is intended to support workforce planning, recruitment, retention and career development.


Why It Matters

Following last week’s workforce report, this gives providers a practical option if they are already reviewing roles, progression and workforce development.

It may be particularly useful where work is planned around career pathways, competencies, role profiles or workforce planning and would benefit from a structured framework.


Actions for Providers

  • Review whether the programme fits existing workforce priorities.

  • Consider whether planned work on progression, competencies or role development could be supported through the programme.

  • Use the offer where it supports existing priorities rather than creating a separate project around it.


Leadership Reflection

Improvement Needs to Be Evidenced

There is a consistent theme running through this week’s developments.

The Covid-19 Inquiry looks at what happened when systems were placed under significant pressure. The CQC findings show what happens when improvement is either embedded into practice or fails to address recurring concerns.

For senior leaders, the useful question is not simply whether an action has been completed, it is whether anything is different as a result.

If an audit identifies a problem, has practice changed? If an incident leads to an action, has the same issue happened again? If staffing arrangements change, has the experience of people receiving care improved?

Assurance is stronger when it tests impact rather than activity.


Five Things I’d Be Thinking About This Week

  1. Emergency preparedness: Do our current plans reflect what we learned during the pandemic?

  2. Continuing Healthcare: Are managers and nurses using the current CHC documents and clear about when Fast Track may be appropriate?

  3. Sustained improvement: How often do we go back and test actions previously marked as complete?

  4. Governance: Are our audits and improvement plans demonstrating changed practice, or mainly recording completed activity?

  5. Workforce development: Could the Care Workforce Pathway support work we are already planning for 2027?


Sources

Editorial Note

This briefing reviews material developments published or substantively updated between 16 and 22 October 2026.

Official material from CQC, NICE, NHS England, GOV.UK, including DHSC, and relevant sector sources was reviewed. Items have been included according to their practical relevance to providers of adult social care for older people rather than simply because they were published during the period.

The NHS Continuing Healthcare documents were updated on 20 October 2026 for ease of use and improved clarity. DHSC has not described these updates as changes to the underlying eligibility criteria.

The CQC findings relate to individual registered services and are included for learning and assurance purposes.

The Care Workforce Pathway programme is an optional funded support offer.

The Why It Matters, Actions for Providers, Leadership Reflection and Five Things I’d Be Thinking About This Week sections contain professional interpretation and practical considerations based on the cited evidence.


Looking Ahead

29 October – Adult Social Care Survey

DHSC has confirmed that Adult social care survey, England: 2025 to 2026 report will be published on 29 October 2026.

The publication will provide official statistics on the outcomes and experiences of people aged 18 and over receiving long-term adult social care services in England.

The findings will be worth reviewing once published, particularly for what they tell us about people’s experience of care, quality of life and the impact of services.




Overhead view of a professional adult social care briefing on a wooden desk, surrounded by governance papers, folders, a tablet, notebook, glasses and stationery, with a central cream sheet titled “Adult Social Care Briefing”.

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