By Tony O’Reilly-
Disgraced former Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, who was in charge during the height of Covid, has apologised after the High Court ruled about government policies on discharging patients from hospital into care homes at the onset of the pandemic were “unlawful”.
The damning ruling on Wednesday stating the government’s failure to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from non-symptomatic transmission of coronavirus, undermining Mr Hancock’s previous claims that a “protective ring” was put in place for the most vulnerable.
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Already, bereaved families have called for Boris Johnson’s resignation, after the High Court ruled against the government for its policies on discharging untested patients into care homes in 2020.
Asked about the ruling by ITV News, Mr Hancock said: “Like the prime minister at lunchtime I reiterate the apology to all those who lost loved ones.
But in the ruling, judges pointed to “growing awareness” of the risk of asymptomatic transmission and no evidence that Mr Hancock addressed the issue of the risk to care home residents of such transmission.
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Mr Hancock told ITV News: “The judgement is very clear about what information was and wasn’t passed on and, I’ve said before, that I wish that the knowledge about asymptotic transmission had been… I’d known it earlier because then we can have better outcomes.
“We’ve got to make sure we learn from this and my sympathy is with all those families, like mine, who lost loved ones during the crisis.”
Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris, whose fathers died of Covid, brought the case against Mr Hancock and Public Health England (PHE).
Dr Gardner, who is from Sidmouth and whose father Michael Gibson died of Covid at an Oxfordshire care home, claimed there was a failure to implement “adequate” measures to protect residents from the “ravages” of coronavirus.
The women had argued that key policies of discharging patients from hospitals into care homes were carried out with no testing and no suitable isolation arrangements in the homes.
In the ruling, Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Garnham said despite there being “growing awareness” of the risk of asymptomatic transmission throughout March 2020, there was no evidence that Mr Hancock addressed the issue of the risk to care home residents of such transmission.
Their judgement referred to policies contained in documents released in March and early April 2020.
“The document could, for example, have said that where an asymptomatic patient, other than one who has tested negative, is admitted to a care home, he or she should, so far as practicable, be kept apart from other residents for up to 14 days,” the judges said in their ruling.
“Since there is no evidence that this question was considered by the secretary of state, or that he was asked to consider it, it is not an example of a political judgment on a finely balanced issue.”
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