Grieving Covid families say Hancock WhatsApp messages 'twist knife' in wounds
Already grieving the loss of their loved ones in care homes, relatives of Covid victims tonight told how Matt Hancock’s bombshell texts on testing have only deepened their wounds.
And one called for a police investigation over claims the former Health Secretary rejected medical advice to check everyone going into homes not just those from hospitals.
In a series of leaked WhatsApp messages from early in the pandemic, Mr Hancock said the guidance from top doctor Chris Whitty “muddies the waters”.
Bereaved relatives have told of their fury. Matt Forest, 54, from Doncaster, South Yorks, whose mum Kaye died aged 89 on May 26, 2020, said of the ex-minister: “He’s betrayed my mum. This reopens the wounds and it’s just heartbreaking. They are twisting the knife into our wounds.”
Kaye Forrest was 89 when she died in a care home (Collect)Lindsay Jackson, from Derbyshire, lost her mum Sylvia, 87, in a care home on April 17 2020.
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Now a spokeswoman for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, she said: “The consequences of this could not be more horrific and there needs to be an immediate and serious police investigation.”
Jenny Widdowson, 61, from Staffordshire, told how before her mum Olive Soutar died in a Devon care home aged 90 in November 2021, they lost nine months with her because families were kept out. She added: “It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Matt Hancock has lied and lied again.”
Chair of the Independent Care Group Mike Padgham said: “At face value, these messages seem to expose a tragic betrayal of those most vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Sylvia Jackson passed away at the age of 87Rights for Residents, Diane Mayhew, 57, said: “It is despicable. Just when you think you can’t be more shocked something else comes out.
“So much trauma could have been avoided and those that made these heartless decisions should take responsibility for them.”
Care home bosses also told of their anger at the messages from Mr Hancock, which were leaked to the Telegraph by Isabel Oakeshott, a journalist who ghost wrote his pandemic memoir. She tonight claimed the Tory MP sent her a “menacing message” after the texts were published.
Isabel Oakeshott leaked the messages (GC Images)
Matt Hancock with Isabel Oakeshott (Andrew Parsons / Parsons Media)Sheffield’s Palms Row Health Care director Nicola Richards lost 25 residents to Covid. She said: “We were lambs to the slaughter. We knew lies were being told when he [Hancock] talked about the ‘protective ring’. We knew people were not being tested.”
Sue Cawthray, 66, runs a care home in Harrogate, North Yorks. She said: “He should be taking responsibility for what he did.” John Godden manages homes in North Yorkshire. He said the protective ring claim has been exposed as a myth. John added: “Now we can actually have a conversation without a counter voice saying they did it, when they didn’t.”
Mr Hancock and Chris Whitty arrive to hold a remote press conference to update the nation on the Covid-19 pandemic in December 2020 (Getty Images)A spokesman for Mr Hancock: “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. The story spun on care homes is completely wrong. What the messages show is Mr Hancock pushed for testing of those going into care homes when it was available.
“Matt was supportive of Chris Whitty’s advice, held a meeting on its deliverability, told it wasn’t deliverable, and insisted on testing all those who came from hospitals.”
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Guidance calling for testing those going to care homes from the community was not introduced until August 14. A total of 17,678 people died of Covid in care homes in England between April 17 and August 13.
1. Care home tests
Matt Hancock failed to follow advice from England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty that there should be testing for “all going into care homes”. Messages with aides from April 14, 2020 show he approved tests for “all going into care from hospital”, but not those arriving from home.
The former health secretary’s allies tonight insisted this was only because of constraints on capacity at the time. New admissions to care homes from the community did not have to undergo mandatory tests until August 2020. Between April 17 and August 13, some 17,678 people died of Covid in care homes in England.
Hancock approved tests for 'all going into care from hospital', but not those arriving from home (SIPA USA/PA Images)2. Rees-Mogg's son
A Covid test was sent by courier to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s home during a nationwide backlog. The kit was urgently dispatched after a test taken by the then Commons leader’s son went missing.
An aide messaged Mr Hancock to say: “The lab lost JRM’s child’s test, so we’ve got a courier going to their family home tonight, child will take the test, and courier will take it straight to the lab. Should have result tomorrow am.” There were reports of a backlog of 185,000 tests waiting to be processed on September 11, 2020.
Jacob Rees-Mogg in Downing Street (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)3. 'Inhumane' rules
Social care minister Helen Whately warned Mr Hancock that strict rules on visits to care homes were “inhumane”. The messages from October 2020, published by the Telegraph, show she warned him against preventing “husbands seeing wives” as the country was put into tiered lockdowns, with tougher restrictions in places where the virus was spreading.
“I’m hearing there’s pressure to ban care home visiting in tier 2 as well as tier 3. Can you help? I really oppose that,” she wrote. “Where care homes have Covid secure visiting we should be allowing it. To prevent husbands seeing wives because they happen to live in care homes for months and months is inhumane.”
4. Target cheat
Mr Hancock met his 100,000 daily tests target by sending out thousands of kits he did not believe would be sent back to be processed. The health secretary promised to reach the goal by the end of April 2020, but he counted tests when they were despatched rather than when they were used.
On April 27, health minister Lord Bethell suggested Amazon could send out a load of tests on the day of the deadline. “If only 20% are being returned then we can send many many many more out,” Mr Hancock replied. “that’s true. since they count from the moment they’re sent,” added the Tory peer.
5. Shielding
More than two million people were told to “shield” at home despite an admission from one of the government’s top experts that it was not effective. In a message to a WhatsApp group that included Boris Johnson,
Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance wrote in August 2020 that rules that kept those with health conditions at home had not been “easy or very effective”. Professor Whitty added that he would personally “think twice” about following the guidelines himself. Despite the reservations, the Government still reintroduced shielding during the second national lockdown that winter.
Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance (AFP via Getty Images)6. Osborne 'favour'
Former chancellor George Osborne gave Mr Hancock a front page story in the Evening Standard to help him meet his testing target. The health secretary asked for a prominent story encouraging people to go for tests in the newspaper where he was editor on the day before the deadline as a “favour”.
Mr Osborne replied: “Yes, of course.” In a text exchange a few months later in November 2020, the ex-minister warned his pal: “No one thinks testing is going well, Matt.”
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