Durham man who lost mam to Covid slams Matt Hancock care home claims

The former minister allegedly rejected advice for residents to go into English care homes to be tested for Covid while he was Health Secretary.

The Telegraph reported on Wednesday (March 1) that Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty had told Mr Hancock in April 2020 that there should be testing for “all going into care homes and segregation whilst awaiting a result”.

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But leaked messages, from April 14, 2020, suggest Mr Hancock rejected that advice, telling an aide the move just “muddies the waters”, and introduced mandatory testing only for those coming from hospitals rather than the community.

The allegations, which Matt Hancock has vehemently denied, are based on a leaked trove of more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages obtained by the Daily Telegraph.

Paul Sexton’s 84-year-old mum Cathleen was one of 23 residents of the Melbury Court care home in Durham who died with Covid-19 between March and June 2020.Cathleen Sexton died aged 84-years-old on May 26, 2020 with Covid-19. She was a resident at the Melbury Court care home in Durham where 23 people died between March and June 2020.

Mr Sexton, an independent Durham County Councillor told The Northern Echo: “If any of this is true he [Matt Hancock] needs to hold his hands up and rethink going on ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ and pleading for forgiveness.

“I think it’s absolutely disgraceful and for him to try to make money off the back of people’s misery with a book is disgusting.

“I am angry for the first time since my mam died.

“If he didn’t follow advice, he should be held accountable through the inquiry as a MP an individual.

“If his defence is there wasn’t the number of tests he needs to tell us the maths.

“The government knew those in care homes were the most vulnerable when they gave them the vaccine first but didn’t when it came to testing.

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“I cannot imagine we didn’t have enough tests to do that. People in care homes had no chance.

“We had to watch my mum dying through the window.”

Paul Sexton

In care homes across County Durham more than 400 coronavirus-related deaths were registered during the same time period.

During the early stages of the pandemic, a third of residents, 27, at Sandringham Care Home in Bishop Auckland, died with the virus.

The former Health Secretary, who was forced to resign after being caught on camera kissing his aide Gina Coladangelo, has denied the allegations.

Refuting the claims on Wednesday his spokesperson said the reports were “flat wrong” because he was told it was “not currently possible” to carry out the tests.

Matt Hancock, pictured here in 2021, allegedly rejected advice for residents going into English care homes to be tested for Covid while he was Health Secretary. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

They also claimed the leaked messages had been “spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda” and that the then-Health Minister “enthusiastically accepted” the advice from Sir Chris Whitty, but “concluded that the testing of people leaving hospital for care homes should be prioritised because of the higher risks of transmission, as it wasn’t possible to mandate everyone going into care homes got tested.”

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Mr Hancock co-authored his book ‘Pandemic Diaries’, released in December 2022, with Isabel Oakeshott – the Telegraph journalist who released the messages saying, “we cannot wait any longer for answers on the pandemic”.

Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy, who joined calls for improved access to testing and PPE for care homes a day after the now-leaked WhatsApps were sent in April 2020, told the Echo the messages highlight the need for the UK’s Covid inquiry to be conducted at pace.

City of Durham MP ]Mary Kelly Foy (Image: Contributor)

Ms Foy said: “The evidence of the Governments recklessness in the early weeks of the pandemic continues to mount. The so called “protective ring” around care homes was merely a figment of Mr Hancock’s imagination. Labour MPs, including myself, were begging the Government for more testing to take place in care homes to protect residents and staff from early April 2020, but our pleas fell on deaf ears.

“A PR exercise in the jungle won’t disguise the former Secretary of State’s failure to protect the most vulnerable in society, when clinicians were crying out for more PPE and testing. 

“This cannot be swept under the carpet. These leaked WhatsApp’s underline the need for the UKs covid inquiry to be conducted at pace.

“In many European countries similar enquiries are at an advanced stage, some such as Sweden have concluded but, in the UK, families who tragically lost loved one’s face years of heartache waiting for answers and accountability.”

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Last April the High Court ruled that 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".

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday lunchtime Rishi Sunak urged people not to focus on “piecemeal bits of information” in the messages and defended the official coronavirus inquiry as the “right way” to scrutinise Government handling of the pandemic.

Mr Hancock announced plans to stand down as an MP at the next election following his 'I'm a Celebrity' appearance last year, saying he wanted to "explore" new opportunities.