Adult social care was in a “terrible” state of pandemic preparedness with the Government lacking basic knowledge, including how many care homes were in the UK at the time when coronavirus struck, Matt Hancock said.
The former Health Secretary told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that by January 2020 the department he headed up – which he accepted meant he had responsibility to ensure “adequate oversight” for planning and preparedness for a health emergency – did not have a plan in place to identify how many people were in the care sector.
