People like my Dad were sent to die
Fury over care blunders 25,000 were not tested
THE grieving son of a war hero believes his dad was sent to his care home to die as a result of Government blunders.
Charles Wright, 99, was discharged from hospital without being tested for Covid and died with the condition at his care home in Ipswich, Suffolk.
Son Clive was unable to see his dad, who served behind enemy lines in the Second World War, for the last six weeks of his “amazing” life.
Charles, who fought in the Siege of Malta and was decorated by the Norwegian government in 2017, passed away on April 17, 2020.
And Clive has now told of his anger over his father’s death after a bombshell court ruling declared the Tories’ policy of shipping untested hospital patients into homes was unlawful.
Clive said: “He was in hospital shortly before he became ill in the care home. We don’t know if he was discharged with Covid, he wasn’t tested. If he had Covid, being in hospital would’ve been far better for him.
“Instead he was sent to a care home and nobody was
any the wiser. Their mistakes cost lives. People like my dad were put out to die.”
The High Court claim was brought by Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris, whose dads died from the virus.
Judges this week said the Government was “irrational” to discharge people to care homes without advising that asymptomatic patients isolate for 14 days. The
National Audit Office found between March 17 and April 15 2020, 25,000 frail pensioners were rapidly shipped into homes without Covid checks – letting the virus take hold.
Law lords said the Government failed to consider the risks of asymptomatic transmission – blowing apart then-health Secretary Matt Hancock’s claim of throwing up a “protective ring” around homes.
The catastrophic failure contributed to more than 20,000 care home deaths linked to Covid in the first wave and the Sunday People led the way in reporting on the scandal.
SAGE scientists warned “asymptomatic transmission cannot be ruled out” in early February 2020.
On February 24, Public Health England warned against discharges into care homes. And on March 13, Chief
Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance again mentioned the issue. But guidance did not change until April 15.
Last night, Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “In the end, 25,000 hospital patients were sent to homes untested. It is impossible to know the number of lives lost as a result. The Government cannot claim they weren’t warned at the time and now they cannot claim to have acted to save lives. They broke the law and people died.”
Legal experts reckon the Department of Health may face corporate manslaughter accusations and payouts of £200million over care home deaths.
Care home boss David Crabtree, 68, saw eight residents die after being forced to take in infected hospital patients in West Yorkshire. He said the ruling vindicated what he had been saying and the risk of asymptomatic transmission was first published in January 2020. He said: “I don’t believe for a second they weren’t aware. They are either deluded, incompetent or liars. Maybe it is all three. Maybe the elderly were seen as expendable.”
Geoff Butcher, boss of Blackadder Group with six care homes in the West Midlands, said: “If claims are successful, the sums of money are going to be eye-watering. It makes sense, surely, to do this as a group action.”
Nicola Richards, of Palms Row Healthcare, with two care homes in Sheffield, said: “I think the Government has got a lot to answer for.”
Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock have both tried to deflect blame. A spokesman for Mr Hancock said: “The court also found Public Health England failed to tell ministers what they knew about asymptomatic transmission.”
And Mr Johnson told the Commons: “The thing that we didn’t know was that Covid could be transmitted asymptomatically in the way that it was. That is something I wish we had known more about at the time.”
The High Court ruling comes before a statutory public inquiry on handling of the pandemic.
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people died
The Government cannot claim they were not warned... They broke the law and