Care home ‘failure’ claims to get full hearing

THE Government’s handling of care homes during coronavirus will be the subject of a legal challenge as “one of the most egregious and devastating policy failures of recent times”.

The claims were made in the High Court as a grieving woman won the first stage of a legal battle over measures taken to protect those living in care homes from coronavirus.

Dr Cathy Gardner claimed there was a failure to implement “adequate” measures to protect residents. At a remote hearing yesterday, Dr Gardner argued that certain key policies led to a “shocking death toll” of care home residents, which she puts at more than 20,000 between March and June.

She told the court that this included an alleged policy of discharging patients from hospital into care homes without testing and suitable isolation arrangements, and said that failure to protect residents from Covid-19 was “one of the most egregious and devastating policy failures of recent times”.

Dr Gardner, who is bringing her case alongside Fay Harris, another bereaved woman, is pursuing a High Court claim against Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, and NHS England, that they breached human rights and equality laws in their handling of the pandemic.

The fathers of both women died of the virus or “probable Covid” after their care homes took in hospital patients who may have been infected.

Sir James Eadie QC, barrister for the Government, said: “There are no right or wrong answers, only judgements, and those judgements fed into operational steps taken.”

Mr Justice Linden granted permission for a full hearing of the legal challenge.