Bereaved daughter says covid care home findings will not change anything

Roche said she used to visit her father twice a day in his care home before he was admitted to hospital with a cough, and later tested positive for Covid.

Although she was with him in his final hours, she said she had been unable to visit him at his care home in the weeks before, due to restrictions, something which tortures her.

“I’d never not visited him and I thought he’s going to wonder where I am,” she said.

“Then a few weeks later one of the carers confirmed to me that he did say, ‘where’s my Jane?’ and that just absolutely kills me.”

The inquiry said that the care sector appeared to be “something of an afterthought” in the early stages of the pandemic, and there was no “protective ring” put around homes as claimed by ministers at the time.

Roche said she believed that the former health secretary, Matt Hancock, did not protect homes.

“Absolutely it’s unfounded that we knew within a few weeks – he didn’t throw nothing around care homes to protect the elderly, the vulnerable – he fed them to the wolves, that’s how I feel.

“My dad was vulnerable and he needed me.”

Inquiry chair, Baroness Heather Hallett, also highlighted the toll visiting restrictions had on people, particularly residents, feeling the “profound isolation and sense of abandonment”.

She added: “There was a significant decline in the health and wellbeing of residents, especially those with cognitive conditions like dementia.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged to use the findings of Tuesday’s report to develop an action plan in case of a future pandemic.