Matt Hancock has said that discharging patients from hospitals to care homes in the early stages of the Covid pandemic was “the least-worst decision” during a major outburst.
The former health secretary conceded that creating a “protective ring” around care homes had been “impossible,” while continuing to defend the policy, one of the most debated measures of the pandemic.
The Covid inquiry was previously told that more than 43,000 deaths linked to the virus occurred in UK care homes between March 2020 and July 2022.
Earlier this week, senior civil servant Alasdair Donaldson described the impact as a “generational slaughter within care homes”.
Speaking to the inquiry on Wednesday, Mr Hancock admitted that the discharge strategy was an “incredibly contentious issue” but insisted that “nobody has yet provided me with an alternative that was available at the time that would have saved more lives”.
In early 2020, as the pandemic took hold, hospitals swiftly discharged patients into care homes in an effort to free beds and protect the NHS from being overwhelmed.
Yet until mid-April, there was no requirement for patients to be tested before discharge or for asymptomatic individuals to isolate, despite increasing recognition that people without symptoms could transmit the virus.
After the hearing, a spokesperson for Covid Bereaved Families for Justice said that Hancock had displayed “utter contempt for bereaved families today”.
“Matt Hancock showed utter contempt for bereaved families today,” they said. “His appearance was full of excuses and completely devoid of accountability. He admitted he knew the care sector wouldn’t be able to cope with a major public health crisis, then did nothing to protect it. And when disaster struck, he blamed everyone but himself.
“His claim that only ‘campaign groups’, such as ours, care about his lie about a ‘protective ring’ around care homes is beyond insulting. Thousands died because that ring never existed, while he went on national television to reassure their loved ones that they were safe.”