Covid care home failure let virus 'spread like wildfire' as Tories accused of 'cruel lie'

The Covid inquiry has found that a failure across care homes allowed the virus to "spread like wildfire".

In the sixth, 287-page report into the pandemic, experts revealed care homes were being treated as an "something of an afterthought".

More than 43,000 care home residents died from the Covid-19 virus between March 2020 and July 2022.

And, due to care homes being off-limits to visitors during this period, bereaved families are still searching for answers on how their loved ones.

Leading the campaign is Jean Adamson, whose father contracted the virus while in a care home. He died in April 2020, just a month into the first lockdown.

After he fell ill, the family was forced to only see him through a window, and was not able to hold his hand or offer any kind of support.

Ms Adamson fired furious criticism at the former Tory Health Secretary Matt Hancock for his "cruel lies" after ministers claimed the Government had set up a "protective ring" around care homes.

On May 15 2020, Mr Hancock said: "Right from the start, it's been clear that this horrible virus affects older people most.

"So right from the start, we've tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes."

But, since, Mr Hancock told the inquiry that the ring metaphor was "clearly a piece of rhetoric".

He added: "We really did do our best to take all of the actions we could to protect those in care homes from the virus in incredibly difficult circumstances."

Campaigners have said the latest instalment of the inquiry has "vindicated" their fight to the Government.

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Matthew Fowler, the the co-founder of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said: "I think first and foremost they vindicate everything that the we have been saying for the last six years.

"To see these things written in black and white, and stated as fact, it means a lot to us."

He added that it was "crucially important" Whitehall started making "tangible changes" based on the report's recommendations.

"I've often said that if my dad's death is what it took to to learn these lessons and to save other people, then I can accept that... Ultimately it's down to the government to actually make the change," Mr Fowler added.

Andy Burnham said his Government was "committed to learning the lessons" from the report, vowing to whip up an "action plan" for any future pandemic.

He further acknowledged the "pain and suffering caused by the pandemic", adding that he was "acutely aware" of the experiences of people receiving and providing care.

"We will use these findings to continue development of our Adult Social Care Pandemic Action Plan," he said.

He assured bereaved families that his plan was "person-centred, highly integrated with health services and preventative in its character".