Health secretary says little consultation over Uk-wide decisions

Jeane Freeman also denies presiding over ‘unmitigated disaster’

Jeane Freeman has hit out at the Westminster government for a lack of consultation on Uk-wide coronavirus decisions, as she denied her handling of the crisis in care homes had been an “unmitigated disaster”.

The health secretary told MPS that there was “a vacuum” at the heart of the four-nations approach to tackling Covid-19 and said Boris Johnson’s administration was unwilling to engage in “shared decision making”.

The comments came as Ms Freeman faced criticism herself for the handling of the outbreak in Scottish care homes.

There have so far been 1,818 Covid deaths in Scottish care homes, as opposed to 1,815 in hospitals.

North-east MP Andrew Bowie, who sits on the Scottish Affairs Committee, said the handling of the crisis had been an “unmitigated disaster” as he asked the health secretary if she had any regrets.

“There are lessons to be learned and decisions that were made at the time that I would not necessarily make now. JEANE FREEMAN

Ms Freeman responded: “I think that we took the steps that we took in terms of care homes going right back to the beginning of March, based on the information and the evidence we had at that time.

“That’s not to say that I don’t think, with hindsight, there are lessons to be learned and decisions that were made at the time that I would not necessarily make now.”

Mr Bowie said it was an “understatement” to say lessons should be learned.

Ms Freeman was later asked to explain how she believed the fournations approach to Covid-19 had worked.

“There has been significant engagement throughout by scientists and clinicians, as you would expect, that is the nature of the scientific and the academic community,” she said.

“I have to say, though, that the engagement at senior ministerial and political level has not been as consistent as we would wish it to be.

“There is currently a vacuum in terms of shared discussion and shared decision making at ministerial level,” she added.

Ms Freeman also revealed that the Scottish Government had not been consulted on the development of the UK Government’s contact tracing mobile app.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman is under fire over the number of deaths in care homes.