Families who lost loved ones to Covid in care homes received a Christmas boost as they took a step closer to getting justice.
Lawyers this week wrote to the Government alerting it to a £200m lawsuit over pandemic blunders.
Loved-ones of those who died because of government blunders are set to sue over catastrophic decisions that led to untested hospital patients being shipped into homes at the start of the pandemic.
The Sunday People can reveal that lawyers acting for a first group of 20 families have begun proceedings.
Law firm Leigh Day wrote to Health Secretary Steve Barclay and the Health Security Agency alerting them to the lawsuit.
Partner Emma Jones said: “People who lost loved ones feel passionately that the Government must be held accountable for the fatal decisions made early in the pandemic.
“The families we represent want justice for the mums and dads they lost without even being able to say goodbye.”
Those involved in the lawsuit include John Orford, whose father Ronald died aged 94 after contracting Covid at his care home in St Helens, Merseyside.
John, 64, also from St Helens, is still suffering from the ordeal and has recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.
He said: “I blame the Government for not locking down sooner.
“ Boris Johnson – who I call a buffoon – should have protected older people but he let it all carry on instead.
“When I see ambulances on the telly it brings it back to me. I suddenly get upset.”
Kim Nottage lost mum Maureen, 86, who caught Covid in hospital before being discharged to a care home in Poplar, East London.
Kim, 59, and her sisters were contacted to say Maureen had a cough, but the home “gave little information.” She said: “My sister called the home to ask if it was Covid and suggested mum should be readmitted to hospital. “But the home weren’t doing much about it and nobody was wearing PPE.
“Mum never wanted to be alone so the fact that she lay there and passed away on her own makes me so angry and really upset.
“I don’t think the Government dealt with things very well.”
Sean Foote, 50, lost his mother Gloria Lewis, 83, after she caught Covid in a care home in Manchester in April 2020.
Sean, from Calgary, Canada, was unable to attend her funeral because of Covid rules and had to watch an online stream.
He said: “I’m just trying to find answers. I think my mum deserves answers. Someone in the home had Covid and mum caught it soon after. She didn’t have the strength to fight it off.
“It’s not about money or compensation, it’s about accountability and to make sure things like this never happen again.
“I firmly believe that Mum was healthy enough to be alive today.
“She should have been safe in a care home.”
Other families in the case include Steve Bethell, of Dulwich, South London, whose parents, Frederick, 90 and Elsie, 85, both died at a home in Chertsey, Surrey.
And George Bisnought, from Liverpool, lost his parents Clifford, 81 and Pearl, 87, at a home in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire.
The civil claim is due to be filed after the next stage of the Covid-19 inquiry next year. This allows the families to hear evidence into the handling of the pandemic.
We revealed exclusively in April that the Government could face a £200million payout to thousands of families over pandemic mistakes.
Bereaved families will also demand answers over the bungled roll-out of personal protective gear to care homes.
Labour Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The Government broke the law and people died.
“It is impossible to know the number of lives lost as a result of the Government’s reckless actions, which exposed some of the most vulnerable in our society to a deadly virus.
“The families who lost loved ones deserve justice.”
Until a sudden rule change on April 15, 2020, hospital patients were not tested for Covid before being released to care homes.
Around 25,000 frail pensioners were rapidly moved into homes without checks – allowing the virus to seed in the deadliest of environments.
Yet in early February of that year, the SAGE scientific advisory group had warned how “asymptomatic transmission cannot be ruled out”. In April this year, a High Court claim was brought by Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris, whose fathers died from the virus.
Law lords ruled there was no evidence that the Government considered the risks of transmission in care homes.
That blew apart the claim in May 2020 by then Health Secretary Matt Hancock that ministers had “tried to throw a protective ring” around them “right from the start”.
The catastrophic failure contributed to more than 20,000 care home deaths linked to Covid in the first wave.
Leigh Day solicitor Beatrice Morgan said: “Policy and guidance was issued which encouraged the move of patients from hospitals to care homes.
“Yet it failed to take into account the risk of asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 to individuals who were most vulnerable to the virus.
“Rather than ensuring residents were protected, government decisions allowed the deadly virus to spread like wildfire throughout care homes across the country.
“The advice was changed far too late. It is impossible to know just how many lives were lost as a result.” Mr Hancock – who denies making wrong moves in tackling Covid – was accused of telling Boris Johnson in March 2020 that hospital patients would be tested for Covid before being discharged to care homes.
No such policy was put in place until the former Prime Minister returned from his own Covid battle in mid-April and reportedly asked Mr Hancock: “What the hell happened?”
Mr Hancock last year denied claims he misled the PM – insisting it was impossible to test all patients who were discharged.
Matt Fowler, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “The decision to allow hospital patients back into care homes without being tested was one of the most disgraceful decisions this government made during the pandemic. It almost certainly led to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. Perhaps even worse was the Government’s failure to learn from their mistakes, so that even more people died from Covid-19 in care homes in the second wave than the first.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said: “We worked tirelessly to protect the public from the threat posed by the pandemic, and specifically sought to safeguard care homes and their residents.
“We have provided billions of pounds to support the sector, including on infection and prevention control, free PPE, additional testing, and priority vaccinations – with the vast majority of eligible care staff and residents now vaccinated.”
- For further information, call 07787 267030 or email c19@leighday.co.uk
