FAMILIES of 25,000 people who died in care homes because of Covid are being denied justice as the inquiry into the pandemic is set to drag on for years, according to the associate editor of the Daily Telegraph.
Camilla Tominey, who presents a show on GB News on Sunday morning, was commenting on the publication of WhatsApp messages from former Health Secretary Matt Hancock in the Daily Telegraph.
The newspaper says the messages show that Mr Hancock ignored expert advice about care home testing during the Covid pandemic.
Camilla Tominey said: “We certainly argue that they should be we say that these messages are in the public interest, because at an unprecedented time during the pandemic, it seems as if public health decisions were made on the hoof that there was a degree of Government by WhatsApp and that last minute changes to those decisions did affect people’s lives.
“We know that there were casualties in the care home sector, particularly in the first three months of the pandemic, 25,000 residents died in care homes.
“Some of the decision making had already been under scrutiny by the diktat of 2 April which allowed people to be admitted into care homes without being tested.
“It already courted controversy, but the idea that Mr Hancock had then rejected Chris Whitty’s proposal that all people going into care homes, not just those from hospitals, but those going from the community should be tested is of course, going to give a lot of cause for consternation, not only to care providers, but also of course, the relatives of those who lost their lives during Covid.”
In a discussion with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster during Breakfast on GB News, she said: “We know of care homes that lost literally all of their residents.
“So it’s all very well for the Government to say, ‘well wait for a Covid inquiry’ – at the moment we don’t even know when that’s going to report back to the public. Could it be 2030? That’s not soon enough.
“What preparations are in place now for the Government to avoid another disaster should there be another pandemic to hit Britain in the world?
“These are the questions we’re asking and in the interest of openness and transparently.
“We’ve taken the decision to publish these messages because we do think that sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
She added: “You know, an inquiry isn’t going to be comprehensive if it doesn’t include all of these messages. And Justice delayed is justice denied.
“There’s a sense that this Covid inquiry is going to be a bit like the Bloody Sunday inquiry and go on for years and years, when the people who lost loved ones in Covid and the people who were denied access to their funerals and the people who had to look on while people were dying in hospital when they were back at home and weren’t able to hold their hands actually need a more immediate answer to some of their questions then an inquiry that’s going to take decades will allow.”
Asked about the potential effect of the leak on his reputation, Ms Tominey said: “The public can recognise that this politician had a very, very difficult job to do in unprecedented circumstances.
“So that’s fine, but what we’re saying is that the public has a right to know how these decisions were made, that affected their lives,and the lives of their loved ones.
“We’re focusing on care homes today but of course,there’s a lot of other decisions that could potentially compromise the educational life chances of a whole generation of children and other decisions that were made that closed down people’s businesses and has adversely affected this economy for months now.”
Matt Hancock has threatened to sue the newspaper and claims that some of the messages have been doctored.
