Whitty on care homes: “we hadn’t recognised what in retrospect are obvious but were not recognised at the time. Eg, people who were working at multiple homes. People w/o sick leave etc.”
On Newsnight, night after night, we were reporting on these exact issues from late March.
On Newsnight, night after night, we were reporting on these exact issues from late March.
Others reported on them too and @peterkyle brought them up in the House.
At the time we were told there wasn’t a significant problem in homes and there wasn’t likely to be.
This isn’t a convincing argument. Not least because many of these issues are *still* in place.
At the time we were told there wasn’t a significant problem in homes and there wasn’t likely to be.
This isn’t a convincing argument. Not least because many of these issues are *still* in place.
On another level, it doesn’t make align with ministerial rhetoric. Whitty doesn’t say there was a “protective ring” and doesn’t say some didn’t follow the correct procedures (as PM did)
I’m really surprised by the line taken by Whitty/Harries. If they genuinely believe these weren’t issues known at the time, then govt truly was completely cut off from what was going on on the ground, because it took about 2 mins talking to care home managers before they came up.
Here is a thread I wrote on 2nd April identifying the issue of agency staff (among other things). In the next tweet is the full report broadcast on Newsnight on that night.
Another thread on sick pay and how that was driving transmission in homes from early May. Again a report is attached. I’ve been banging on about it for months and it’s still a problem at the moment.
Again, the full report can be viewed here
.@peterkyle was onto this even earlier still (indeed it was my initial conversations with him which got me interested in the issue). He asked a question at #PMQs on 25th March where he explictly cites the problem of agency staff.
The idea that these issues weren’t known is preposterous.
This from 5th May, where we set out exactly what was going on in care, as an official from the podium said Whitehall needed to understand better. This really hasn’t been difficult to piece together.
Shadow Care Minister @leicesterliz tells me: "It's astonishing that eone in govt claims they were unaware of the risks of Covid in care homes. Yet MPs like P Kyle warned the PM directly about it. Other countries had warned about it. And the social care sector warned about it..."
..."The failure of leadership on care within govt shows a lack of understanding, priority and grip which ministers must address if we are going to deal the long term consequences of the virus and to prevent a second wave."
