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Boris Johnson’s maverick former chief aide told MPs in a sensational five-hour grilling that the truth was ‘quite the opposite’ because ‘we sent people with Covid back to the care homes’
Matt Hancock’s claim that the Government threw a ‘shield’ around care homes is ‘complete nonsense’, Dominic Cummings insisted today.
Boris Johnson’s maverick former chief aide told MPs in a sensational five-hour grilling that the truth was ‘quite the opposite’ because ‘we sent people with Covid back to the care homes’.
More than 30,000 care home residents have died from Covid, with the scandalous fatality toll largely blamed on the move to discharge thousands of hospital patients into homes without testing them, with the aim of freeing up NHS beds to make room for an inevitable onslaught of coronavirus patients.
Taking aim at Matt Hancock over the scandal, Mr Cummings claimed the Health Secretary ‘categorically’ told the Prime Minister in March that all hospital patients would be being allowed into care homes.
But he alleged that Boris Johnson was furious when he returned to office at the end of April following his near-death battle with coronavirus to discover the promise wasn’t kept.
Mr Cummings told MPs: ‘So that was one of the other things that I, that we, found shocking, that when we realised in April that this had happened, the Prime Minister said a less polite version of “what on earth are you telling me?”.
‘When he came back after being ill: ‘What on earth has happened with all these people in care homes? Hancock told us in the Cabinet Room that people were going to be tested before they went back to care homes, what the hell happened?”‘
Giving evidence to MPs about the Government’s catastrophic response to the Covid pandemic, Mr Cummings said he and the Prime Minister had been told ‘categorically in March that people will be tested before they went back to care homes’.
He added: ‘We only subsequently found out that hadn’t happened. Now all the Government rhetoric of “we put a shield around care homes” and blah blah was complete nonsense.
‘Quite the opposite of putting a shield around them, we sent people with Covid back to the care homes.’
It was not Mr Cummings’ only attack on the Health Secretary, accusing him of ‘lying’ about PPE and access for treatment for those suffering from the disease.
More than 30,000 care home residents have died from Covid, with the scandalous fatality toll largely blamed on the move to discharge thousands of hospital patients into homes without testing them, with the aim of freeing up NHS beds to make room for an inevitable onslaught of coronavirus patients
He also claimed Mr Hancock ‘should have been fired for at least 15, 20 things’, and revealed that he told the PM he was ‘not prepared to work with people like Hancock any more’.
Mr Cummings accused the Government’s response to the pandemic of being the perfect example of ‘lions led by donkeys’, attacking the entire system for being ‘chaos’.
There have been 36,275 deaths involving Covid in care homes since the pandemic began, according to the latest figures from the UK’s statistics agencies. More than 400 residents were dying each day during the darkest spell of the first wave.
In April 2020, Mr Hancock came under fire for allowing patients to be discharged to care homes without a Covid test.
During media interviews, Mr Hancock insisted that from the beginning of the pandemic, the Government had tried to ‘throw a protective ring around our care homes’.
But MPs last year claimed homes were ‘thrown to the wolves’ during the pandemic and the Government’s actions were ‘at times negligent’.
The social care crisis was exacerbated further by a series of ‘reckless’ and ‘appalling’ policy errors, according to a damning Commons public accounts committee report. Advising hospitals to discharge thousands of patients into care homes without knowing if they had coronavirus was an example of this, they said.
Taking aim at Matt Hancock over the scandal, Mr Cummings claimed the Health Secretary ‘categorically’ told the Prime Minister in March that all hospital patients would be being allowed into care homes. But he alleged that Boris Johnson was furious when he returned to office at the end of April following his near-death battle with coronavirus to discover the promise wasn’t kept. Mr Johnson is pictured today in the House of Commons, while Mr Hancock was snapped running outside his London home this morning
At least 25,000 patients were moved from hospitals to care homes between March 17 and April 15, when there was a lack of rigorous testing. Estimates suggest around two-thirds weren’t swabbed.
The National Audit Office, which reviewed the scandal, said hospitals were told on March 17 to ‘discharge urgently’ all in-patients medically fit to leave in order to increase capacity’.
Its report at the time added: ‘Due to government policy at the time, not all patients were tested for Covid before discharge, with priority given to patients with symptoms.
‘On April 15, the policy was changed to test all those being discharged into care homes. It is not known how many patients discharged to care homes had Covid at the point they left hospital.’
Care home bosses also warned that their staff didn’t have enough access to personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks and aprons. The industry also warned of a lack of testing at the start of the crisis, when swabs were rationed because of a lack of supply.
Officials also asked care homes to take Covid patients again in the winter. Under the scheme, designed to free up hospital beds and protect the NHS in the second wave, Covid-secure homes which passed inspection were asked to house infected patients.
Nadra Ahmed, chairwoman of the National Care Association, said that Mr Cummings’ remarks about care homes were met with ‘disappointment’.
She said: ‘It is with great sadness that listening to Mr Cummings it emerges our initial thoughts and the evidence that was around us was right – that there was no shield around care homes, there was no thought on the impact on the vulnerable people that we care for.
‘People were being discharged out of hospital into our services to save the NHS and put not only the people discharged, their lives, were put at risk, but the people who were in our services at risk.
‘My reaction is great disappointment that the sector was lied to from the outset – we were lied to about any plan, it is clear there was no plan; we were lied to about the protective shield when we know there was no protective shield and it is disappointing to note that the testing that we were promised never took place.’
Shadow social care minister Liz Kendall said: ‘Mr Cummings’ comments have revealed what we knew all along – that the Government’s ‘protective shield’ around care homes during this pandemic did not exist.
‘Over 30,000 care home residents have died of coronavirus during this pandemic – 25,000 elderly people were discharged from hospitals to care homes without any tests whatsoever, and frontline care workers were left without PPE.
‘The Government was much too slow to act to protect residents and staff. As we emerge from this pandemic ministers must put in place a plan to transform social care and ensure that care homes never again face a crisis of this scale.’
Labour MP Barbara Keeley, a member of the committee questioning Mr Cummings, tweeted: ‘The evidence from Dominic Cummings today was clear – at the start of this pandemic, residents in care homes were sacrificed in order to free up beds in hospitals.
‘Matt Hancock must come explain why the promise that patients would be tested before discharge wasn’t kept.’
Downing Street defended its handling of care homes as Mr Cummings continued to give evidence.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘With regard to care homes, we’ve always been guided by the latest advice at that time and we’ve taken a number of steps to protect care home residents and those being discharged from hospitals into care homes.’
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