A COUNCILLOR whose mother died with Covid has said a High Court ruling against Government policy will not bring back the thousands of people who died during the first wave of the pandemic.
Senior judges yesterday ruled sending patients with the virus back into care homes was unlawful because it "failed to take into account the risk of transmission to elderly and vulnerable residents".
More than 400 coronavirus-related deaths in County Durham care homes were registered between March and June 2020, with one home losing 27 residents to the disease.
Durham County Councillor Paul Sexton’s 84-year-old mother, Cathleen, was one of 23 people who lived Melbury Court in Durham to die during that period.
Cllr Sexton, who is the authority’s portfolio holder for adult and health services, said: “I’m pleased by the ruling, although not unexpected by it, given we all knew it was wrong to discharge Covid patients into our care homes.
“The decision won’t bring back the time we lost with mum or replace the helplessness and pain we felt at the time, not being able to hold her hand and comfort her in her final days.
“The ruling won’t bring back the thousands of people who died, in a matter of months, during wave one, however, hopefully it is an indication that when a public inquiry commences, we will learn valuable lessons and make sure the same mistakes are never made again.”
Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Garnham said that, despite there being “growing awareness” of the risk of asymptomatic transmission throughout March 2020, there was no evidence that then Health Secretary Matt Hancock addressed the issue of the risk to care home residents in England of such transmission.
Durham City MP Mary Kelly Foy said: “The High Court's ruling will be but a crumb of comfort to the many families who tragically lost loved ones in care homes during the pandemic.
“However, it is a vindication for many families who have long suspected that that the Government did not create a 'protective ring' around their vulnerable relatives but instead left them dangerously exposed to the virus.
“Far too many of my constituents in Durham have been personally touched by this tragedy and many questions remain unanswered."
Ms Foy said: “That is why we need a public inquiry into the handling of the Covid pandemic as a matter of urgency.”
During the early stages of the pandemic, a third of residents, 27, at Sandringham Care Home in Bishop Auckland, died with the virus.
North Durham MP Kevan Jones said: “This confirms that in the Government's haste to get Covid patients out of hospital didn’t take necessary steps to protect people in care home with devastating consequences, not only for residents but also those who work in care homes.
“The Government should explain what happened and apologise to individuals who lost people.
“They were avoidable, the Government did not think about the consequences of placing Covid patients in communities of very vulnerable people.”
In Stanley Park, which did not accept Covid patients back into the home, the death toll for the same period still reached 18 as the virus spread rapidly through the country.
A spokesperson for Care UK, which owns the home, said: “Care UK put in place a comprehensive pandemic plan across all of its homes more than two weeks before the country went into lockdown.
“One element of this plan was that we didn’t accept any residents from hospital who had tested positive or were displaying symptoms.”
In 2020 local authorities were asked to find alternative accommodation options for hospital patients with Covid-19 who can be moved to free up space for more critically ill patients.
In June that year Durham County Council denied it had attempted to force care homes into accepting patients as a condition of extra cash to cope with the effects of the pandemic.
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Jane Robinson, Durham County Council’s corporate director for adult and health services, said: “We are aware of the outcome of this case and are reviewing the findings.”
The claim was brought by two women Cathy Gardner, whose father Michael Gibson died in Oxfordshire, and Fay Harris, whose father Donald died in Hampshire, partially succeeded in their claims against the Health Secretary and Public Health England.
The judges concluded: “The common law claim succeeds against the Secretary of State and Public Health England in respect of both the 17 March and 2 April 2020 documents to this extent: the policy set out in each document was irrational in failing to advise that where an asymptomatic patient, other than one who had tested negative, was admitted to a care home, he or she should, so far as practicable, be kept apart from other residents for 14 days.”
A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are working with our partners to review these findings."
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