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A grandson whose grandmother died of Covid in a nursing home was a “punch in the gut”, claiming a leaked message revealing how Matt Hancock handled the pandemic.
Amos Waldman’s grandmother, Sheila Lam, died on April 2, 2020 at a nursing home in north London after being admitted to hospital in early March. Regarding further allegations about Hancock’s handling of the pandemic, he said: Telegraphwas “sad and infuriating” and “frankly sickening”.
The newspaper revealed that there were more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages between Mr Hancock and other officials and ministers during the pandemic. He claims to have told Hancock on April 8, 2020, that all residents and staff should be “tested at nursing homes.”
A printout of the April 14 message found that Hancock initially described this as a “good and positive step” but changed his mind the same day, restricting the testing to people entering nursing homes from hospitals. should be done, adding regional testing. In the case of nursing homes, “muddy the water.”
Mr Waldman said I The revelation was a “punch to the gut.”
he said: in a nursing home. ”
Waldman said his grandmother was 94 years old when she died and was mentally alert, but had quickly deteriorated from her illness, with typical Covid-19 symptoms in her final notes on her death. It says it was seen.
Ms. Lam died alone as the nursing home closed. Only his three members of his family were able to attend the funeral. I had to see the rest on zoom.
He said if the message is true, it raises further issues that must be addressed in public Covid-19 investigations.
Waldman said: Lessons need to be learned, but not yet put into practice. ”
Even my grandson got in the way TelegraphAccording to Hancock’s proposal, Hancock prioritized a goal of 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day over expanding testing in nursing homes.
A government official appeared to recommend that Hancock prioritize testing of asymptomatic staff and residents of nursing homes with documented outbreaks in the past 14 days. This would require him to conduct 60,000 tests in 2000 households over the next ten days. .
Mr. Hancock seems to answer as follows.
Waldman said it suggested the former health secretary “put ego and vanity ahead of people’s lives.”
Charities and Campaign Groups Spoken I The revelation means care home resident relatives deserve an apology.
Co-founder Diane Mayhew Rights of Residentssaid the message was like “adding salt to an already open wound.”
“People are still suffering from this scandal, and what if you could see that much of that pain could have been avoided? It’s just unreal. At least I think my relatives deserve an apology from him.” [Matt Hancock] Apparently it was ignored, not warned. ”
Helen Wildbore, director of the Relatives & Residents Association, said the latest allegations about testing advice would be “very heartbreaking for the thousands of people who have lost loved ones.”
“We already know that no protective ring has arisen claiming the government has swung care, and that protective ring is even more false.
“Also, when I heard that the government knew that it was inhumane to separate people from their families, it was already known that it was inhumane for the people we were helping. , which is why we started a campaign to end quarantine with that summer care.
A spokesperson for Mr. Hancock said regarding the Covid care home test bill: Telegraph He left out key meeting details and was told that expanding testing capacity “didn’t pay off.”
A spokesperson said: of Telegraphchecked messages all night. Telegraph We intentionally left out the mention of the meeting with the test team from WhatsApp.
“This is important because Matt stood by Chris Whitty’s advice, held a meeting about the deliverable, said it wasn’t a deliverable, and insisted that everyone from the hospital be tested.
“Telegraph We’ve been informed that their headline is wrong and Matt is considering all available options.
“Isabel Oakshott and Telegraph It shows why the proper place for such analysis is an investigation rather than a partial, subject-based leak of confidential documents. ”
spokesperson explained The TelegraphThe report is “a distorted account of the pandemic, pushed by partial leaks and spun to fit the anti-lockdown agenda.”