Mistakes were made

Of the 34,500 Covid‑related deaths since March, one third have been in care homes. Since these settings are self‑contained and therefore uniquely capable of isolation this is a staggering proportion. Clearly, residents of such homes tend to be in their twilight years and many have medical complications that are associated with ageing. If they are affected by a virus that their immune systems cannot cope with then the outcome is often fatal.

This has been seen across Europe, not just here. In Spain, Italy, France, Belgium and Sweden a great preponderance of deaths have been in care homes.

But the stark fact is that the threat to British care homes was not properly assessed, nor were protections put in place at the outset. Hospital patients were discharged to homes and the very nature of care meant infected people were going in and out without adequate testing or PPE.

Given the speed with which the crisis overtook the country it was inevitable that mistakes would be made, tragically so in this case. Yet despite the evidence to the contrary, the Government persists in stating that it had matters under control from the beginning. Wait until the final figures have been collated before comparing us with other countries, say ministers.

They are understandably miffed at being attacked by hindsight warriors and others who do not have to take such difficult decisions. But they might take a leaf out of the Swedish health minister’s book who conceded on television: “We failed to protect our elderly.” Sometimes, acknowledging what everyone knows to be the case is the right course to take.