Bereaved urge ‘truth' as Covid inquiry shifts focus to care homes
The first week of what is to be a five-week module will also hear from former health secretary Matt Hancock.
Former health secretary Matt Hancock has given evidence to the Covid inquiry multiple times (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Mr Hancock, who resigned from government in 2021 after admitting breaking social distancing guidance by having an affair with a colleague, has given evidence to the inquiry multiple times.
He will return on Wednesday for a full-day session to face questions specifically about the care sector.
In 2023 he admitted the so-called protective ring he said had been put around care homes early in the pandemic was not an unbroken one, and he understood the strength of feeling people have on the issue.
At a Downing Street press conference on May 15 2020, Mr Hancock said: 'Right from the start, we've tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes.'
Bereaved families have previously called this phrase a 'sickening lie' and a 'joke'.
When the pandemic hit in early 2020, hospital patients were rapidly discharged into care homes in a bid to free up beds and prevent the NHS from becoming overwhelmed.
However, there was no policy in place requiring patients to be tested before admission, or for asymptomatic patients to isolate, until mid-April.
This was despite growing awareness of the risks of people without Covid-19 symptoms being able to spread the virus.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice (CBFFJ) campaign group said people want answers about decisions made 'at the highest levels of government'.
From Monday, module six of the inquiry will look at the effect the pandemic had on both the publicly and privately funded adult social care sector across the UK.
Among the issues to be examined will be decisions made by the UK Government and devolved administrations on moving people from hospitals into adult care and residential homes in the early stages of the pandemic.
The module will also consider how the pandemic was managed in care and residential homes, including infection prevention and control measures, testing for the virus, the availability and adequacy of personal protective equipment (PPE), and the restrictions on access to such locations by healthcare professionals and loved ones.
Charlie Williams' 85-year-old father, Vernute, died at a care home in April 2020.
The latest module will focus on the care sector (Alamy/PA)
Mr Williams, a member of CBFFJ, said: 'We have been waiting years for this moment. What happened in care homes during the pandemic was not a tragic accident, it was the result of decisions made at the highest levels of government.
'Covid-positive patients were knowingly discharged from hospitals into care homes. There was no testing, no PPE, and no plan to protect the most vulnerable.
'Those in care were left to die. Bereaved families deserve to know who made those decisions and why.'
The CBFFJ group has written to inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Hallett, to express their concern at some 'key decision-makers' not expected to be called in this module, including former prime minister Boris Johnson.
Mr Williams said not calling Mr Johnson and other senior figures was 'shocking', adding: 'They were at the centre of government when these choices were made, and the inquiry's decision to exclude them is baffling and deeply damaging to any sense of justice.'
He said: 'This is the moment for those responsible to finally tell the truth. We want answers. We want accountability. We want justice.'
Members of bereaved groups from across the UK will give evidence on Tuesday, while representatives of the National Care Forum and Royal College of Nursing will give evidence on Thursday.
Public hearings for the care sector module are expected to run until the end of July.
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'That really concerns me and just shows how much families are struggling,' she said. In Fleetwood, eight miles north of Blackpool, NHS bosses spotted that a large number of children were failing to turn up to mental health appointments. They realised it was because families could not afford the two-hour round trip on public transport. Since moving the service to Fleetwood, the child and adolescent mental health services waiting list has fallen to almost zero. A&E attendances for children in mental health crisis have decreased by 59%. At Furness general hospital in Barrow, the 11 young women are no longer routinely found in A&E. They sat down with clinicians to explain why they self-harmed to secure a bed for the night. They described a complex range of mental health issues, dating back to childhood, that had never adequately been addressed, even though many, if not all, had been seen by NHS professionals. A more comprehensive support plan is now in place and the A&E attendances are starting to fall. 'Health has to work in a different way,' Niebieski said. 'It can't continue to expect that these people will access care in the usual way. For some people the barriers they face are so great that it's impossible.'
