Former health secretary Matt Hancock has denied claims the government’s attempt to throw a protective ring around care homes in 2020, early in the Covid pandemic, was empty rhetoric. In an irritable exchange he urged the Covid Inquiry to focus on the substance of what the government was doing at the time. Mr Hancock said … Read more
Former health secretary Matt Hancock has denied claims the government’s attempt to throw a protective ring around care homes in 2020, early in the Covid pandemic, was empty rhetoric. In an irritable exchange he urged the Covid Inquiry to focus on the substance of what the government was doing at the time. Mr Hancock said … Read more
Getty Images The government ignored an early warning by two Nobel prize-winning scientists that all healthcare workers should be routinely tested for coronavirus in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has heard. The advice came in a strongly-worded letter sent in April 2020 by the chief executive of the Francis Crick Institute, Sir Paul Nurse, and … Read more
Matt Hancock has defended government deals to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, saying the country was in a “desperate situation” at the time. In a bad-tempered session at the Covid inquiry, the former health secretary repeatedly criticised the line of questioning describing it as “naive”, “hostile” and “inappropriate”. He said he was … Read more
The NHS in England came within “six or seven hours” of running out of gowns and other protective equipment during the Covid pandemic, Matt Hancock has said. The former health secretary was giving evidence for the third time at the Covid inquiry, about the impact on healthcare systems. He stated there was never a “national … Read more
“The mayor and 10 leaders in Greater Manchester, including a Conservative leader, spent many hours trying to negotiate a deal with the government… it would not have been right to place further restrictions on the residents of Greater Manchester without the financial package to support them.” Source link
The ex-health secretary also said a “toxic culture”, driven by Dominic Cummings, hindered the Covid response. Source link
Former NHS boss Sir Simon Stevens tells the Covid inquiry the “horrible dilemma never crystallised”. Source link
Ex-health secretary says pandemic planning focused too much on burying dead rather than stopping disaster. Source link
Prof Whitty is shown telling Mr Hancock that the UK’s chief medical officers, as well as Sage, the government’s group of scientific advisers, were “in favour” of a pilot “with presumption in favour of testing for 5 days in lieu of isolation (alternative 10 days isolation)”. Source link