By Tony O’Reilly-
Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock(pictured), has disputed claims he rejected expert advice on Covid tests for people going into care homes at the start of the pandemic.
His denial flies in the face of evidence which reveals his expression of a preference to test only those going into care homes from hospital, rather than test everybody entering hospitals.
WhatsApp messages leaked to the Daily Telegraph newspaper suggest Mr Hancock was told in April 2020 there should be “testing of all going into care homes”.
Government guidance later mandated tests only for those leaving hospital.
A spokesman for Mr Hancock said the messages had been “doctored”.
“These stolen messages have been doctored to create a false story that Matt rejected clinical advice on care home testing. This is flat wrong,” he said in a statement.
The Telegraph has obtained more than 100,000 messages sent between Mr Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the pandemic passed to the newspaper by journalist Isabel Oakeshott, a known critic of lockdowns. Ms Oakeshott was given copies of the texts while helping Mr Hancock write his book, Pandemic Diaries.
In one message, dated 14 April, Mr Hancock reportedly told aides that Prof Sir Chris Whitty, the chief medial officer for England, had conducted an “evidence review” and recommended “testing of all going into care homes, and segregation whilst awaiting result”.
The message came a day before the publication of Covid-19: Our Action Plan for Adult Social Care, a government document setting out plans to keep the care system functioning during the pandemic.
Mr Hancock said the advice represented a “good positive step” and that “we must put into the doc”, to which an aide responded that he had sent the request “to action”.
However, later the same day, Mr Hancock messaged again saying he would rather “leave out” a commitment to test everyone entering care homes from the community and “just commit to test & isolate ALL going into care from hospital”.
“I do not think the community commitment adds anything and it muddies the waters,” he said.
Hancock’s spokesman said this followed an operational meeting, where he was advised it was not possible to test everyone entering care homes.
The publication on 15 April articulated the government’s plan to “institute a policy of testing all residents prior to admission to care homes”, but that that would “begin with all those being discharged from hospital”.
It said only that it would “move to” a policy of testing everyone entering care homes from the community.
Care Home Covid Deaths
Between March 2020 to January 2022, there were 43,256 deaths involving Covid-19 in care homes in England, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The crucial dispute on care home testing centres revolves around a series of messages between Mr Hancock and his aide Allan Nixon.
Chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty is said to have told the then-health secretary in April 2020 there should be testing for “all going into care homes”. In one message on 14 April, Mr Hancock described it as “obviously a good positive step”.
But he later messages his aide: “Tell me if I’m wrong but I would rather leave it out and just commit to test & isolate ALL going into care from hospital. I do not think the community commitment adds anything and it muddies the waters.”
Mr Hancock’s spokesman said the former Health Secretary had also convened an operational meeting on delivering testing for care homes on 14 April “where he was advised it was not currently possible to test everyone entering care homes, which he also accepted”.
The spokesman said: “Matt concluded that the testing of people leaving hospital for care homes should be prioritised because of the higher risks of transmission, as it wasn’t possible to mandate everyone going into care homes got tested.”
But The Telegraph maintains that the texts were published in full. Sources said they were “baffled” by the suggestion that the messages were doctored.
According the Telegraph’s investigation, Mr Hancock expressed concerns that expanding care home testing could “get in the way” of the target of 100,000 daily Covid tests he set out at the start of April 2020.
The newspaper said on 24 April a civil servant in Mr Hancock’s office sent him a message passing with advice that the department should “prioritise testing of asymptomatic staff and residents” in care homes hit by a Covid outbreak.
Mr Hancock is said to have replied: “This is ok so long as it does not get in the way of actually fulfilling the capacity in testing.”
The spokesman for Mr Hancock said he went “as far as possible, as fast as possible, to expand testing and save lives”.
He added: “It is outrageous that this distorted account of the pandemic is being pushed with partial leaks, spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda, which would have cost hundreds of thousands of lives if followed. What the messages do show is a lot of people working hard to save lives”.
In June, 2021, Health Secretary Matt Hancock was exposed by The Sun, having a secret affair with his closest aide, T Gina Coladangelo, 43, who he hired last year with taxpayers’ money, as the mutant strain spread.
His participation in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here attracted much criticism from members of the public, including Mps, despite his £320,000 fee. The former health secretary donated £10,000 – 3% of his total fee – to two charities, which he defended as a “decent su
Meanwhile, The chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) announced in November 2022 that Matt Hancock breached the government’s business appointment rules by not consulting the watchdog before appearing on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, the chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) has said.
In a letter to the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Dowden, Eric Pickles wrote: “I am writing to you in my capacity as chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments to bring to your attention a breach of the government’s business appointment rules.
“Mr Hancock did not seek Acoba’s advice before signing up to two television series, ITV’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! and Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins.”