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Matt Hancock Tells Covid Inquiry Moving Patients to Care Homes Was 'Least-Worst Decision'
UNITED KINGDOM, JUL 2 – Matt Hancock said discharging untested patients into care homes was the "least-worst decision" to prevent NHS overload despite causing thousands of deaths, inquiry heard.
- Former health secretary Matt Hancock told the Covid Inquiry that rapidly discharging hospital patients to care homes in early 2020 was the least-worst option to avoid overwhelming the NHS.
- This policy emerged when no testing or isolation was required for asymptomatic patients before mid-April, and NHS England instructed the discharge process starting March 17, 2020.
- Hancock admitted the protective ring around care homes was incomplete, acknowledged not advising isolation was mistaken, and faced the challenge that many care homes lacked isolation capacity amid airborne Covid.
- From March 2020 to July 2022, over 43,000 Covid-related deaths occurred in UK care homes, with a civil servant calling it a "generational slaughter," while bereaved families condemned Hancock’s defense as insulting.
- Hancock emphasized the inquiry should focus on governmental actions, stressed decisions were collective, and stated no alternative then available could have saved more lives.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Hancock’s ‘insulting’ testimony at Covid inquiry criticised by families
The former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has told the Covid inquiry that discharging patients from hospitals into care homes in the early stages of the pandemic had been “the least worst decision” at the time. Mr Hancock said the likelihood of things getting worse if they’d stayed in hospital was “very high”. Lawyers representing victims’ families called his testimony “an insult to the memory of each and every person who died”. Watch more: Forme…
Matt Hancock accused of insulting 'memory of every COVID victim' over inquiry comments
Former health secretary Matt Hancock has been accused of insulting the "memory of each and every person who died" over his description of the way patients were discharged into care homes during the COVID pandemic.
Matt Hancock tells Covid inquiry moving patients from hospitals to care homes was 'least-worst decision'
Discharging patients from hospitals to care homes in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic was “the least-worst decision” at the time, former health secretary Matt Hancock has said.
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