Bereaved households have stated Matt Hancock’s proof to the Covid inquiry “was stuffed with excuses and fully devoid of accountability” as he described discharging untested sufferers into care properties as “the least worst choice”.
In his testimony to the UK Covid-19 inquiry on Wednesday, the previous well being secretary defended the choice to maneuver hospital sufferers into care properties throughout the early weeks of the pandemic to liberate mattress house.
“No one has but supplied me with another that was out there on the time that might have saved extra lives,” he stated. “I nonetheless can’t see a choice that might have been much less unhealthy. Not one of the choices have been good. It was the least worst resolution that might have been taken on the time. Whereas I want there had been a greater choice, I nonetheless can’t discover one.
“The chance of issues being worse if individuals had stayed in hospital was very excessive.”
A spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Households for Justice UK, a gaggle of practically 7,000 individuals, stated Hancock’s proof “was stuffed with excuses and fully devoid of accountability”.
“We’ve waited years for this second, hoping for reality. What we bought was finger-pointing and evasion,” they stated. “Our family members have been left to die with out PPE, with out testing or safety. Different international locations protected their care properties. Ours have been deserted. Hancock lied to us then and he’s nonetheless dodging accountability now.”
They stated his testimony urged he was “powerless to vary life-saving steering for care properties”, a “declare that doesn’t stand as much as scrutiny”.
Hancock stated the discharge coverage, which was later dominated unlawful in a excessive court docket judgment, was “formally a authorities resolution” however that it was “pushed” by the then NHS chief govt, Simon Stevens. He additionally stated that whereas he had not taken the choice himself, he took accountability for it.
Stevens will not be listed to testify on the inquiry, regardless of calls from marketing campaign teams for him to take action.
Hancock was giving proof as a part of the sixth module of the inquiry, focusing particularly on the care sector. Earlier this week, a senior civil servant stated there had been a “generational slaughter inside care properties” in written proof to the inquiry.
Nearly 46,000 care dwelling residents died with Covid in England and Wales between March 2020 and January 2022, lots of them within the early weeks of the pandemic.
The choice to quickly discharge hospital sufferers to care properties with a purpose to liberate beds, when testing and isolation services weren’t but broadly out there, has been strongly criticised for inflicting speedy unfold of the illness in care properties.
In 2022, the excessive court docket stated the coverage to not isolate discharged hospital sufferers within the first weeks of the pandemic with out testing was “irrational”.
Hancock stated the ruling had been “very irritating” as a result of he was not requested to be concerned, and claimed the end result would have been completely different if he had given proof.
On Tuesday, a care dwelling proprietor and supervisor giving proof to the inquiry stated she had refused to permit untested hospital sufferers into her nursing dwelling, and was informed she could be reported to the care inspectorate for mattress blocking.
Hancock stated that isolation of discharged sufferers had not been clinically really useful on the time, however “in hindsight” it ought to have been.
He closely criticised Public Well being England (PHE) for not responding successfully to the seriousness of the disaster. “I bought so annoyed with PHE I abolished them,” he stated.
When questioned about whether or not there had been sufficient employees to take care of the discharged sufferers, amid proof of a widespread scarcity of carers, Hancock stated: “We knew that individuals would do what they wanted to do.”
He has additionally been closely criticised for his claims {that a} “protecting ring” had been positioned round care properties, beforehand admitting to the inquiry that it was not an “unbroken circle”.
The care sector module of the inquiry is predicted to run till the tip of July.
