Covid scandal is exposed in messages

LEAKED messages appear to prove that vulnerable care home residents were betrayed by the Government during the Covid-19 pandemic, campaigners have said.

Reports say that then Health Secretary Matt Hancock did not implement the advice of the Chief Medical Officer that everyone going into a care home should be tested for the virus. Instead he made it mandatory only for those going into a care home from hospital, the reports say.

The Independent Care Group said that decision may have contributed to devastation in care homes during the pandemic.

Chair Mike Padgham added: “At face value, these messages seem to expose a tragic betrayal of those most vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We can only guess how many lives were lost because the spread of the virus in care and nursing homes was not prevented sooner.

“The cavalier attitude being taken towards care settings makes a nonsense of the claims that the Government was throwing “a protective ring” around care homes. It was doing anything but.”

The ICG believes the Government was slow to see the risk to care home residents in the first place.

“At the outset we were told we didn’t need to do anything differently,” Mike added.

“Then we had the panic of people being discharged from over-run hospitals into care homes without testing and here we have the evidence that the health secretary ignored advice that would have helped.

“As ever, social care was badly let down and the care of the most vulnerable seriously betrayed. There are some very serious questions to be answered.”

Mike said the Government had to restore confidence in its handling of social care by providing the reform the sector urgently needs.

“Many care providers will be reading today’s reports and feeling once again that the Government doesn’t care about care,” he added.

“I think the only way the Government can start to rebuild trust is to get on with the reform of care and help us to end the crisis which was made so much worse by the impact of the pandemic.”

Figures from CSI Market Intelligence recently revealed that 247 homes closed during 2022 whilst just 123 new ones opened. That left the sector with a net loss of 124 homes and, according to the report, a loss of 230 care beds.

Millway House in Andover enjoyed a visit from a donkey called Charlie. The furry visitor from Kelly’s Donkeys travelled from his home in Somerset to meet the residents at the nurse-led care home in Weyhill, and everyone couldn’t wait to lavish the loveable animal with attention. Used to trotting into care homes in the area for animal therapy sessions, Charlie was taken around Millway to interact with residents. He even visited each of the home’s three floors, via the lift, to say hello to those who are either bed bound or were reluctant to leave their rooms.