Boris Johnson’s claim that Coronavirus ripped through care homes because staff did not follow health and safety guidelines have been slammed by Helen Hayes as ‘utterly indefensible’.
Last week, when asked why 20,000 of the UK’s COVID-19 deaths were among care home residents, Johnson had replied: “We discovered too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have.”
The comments caused widespread outcry with the Dulwich and West Norwood MP, who is House of Commons’ co-chair on the adult social care all party parliamentary group, tweeting: “I don’t really have words for how insulting this is to social care staff who have done so much to protect and care for vulnerable people during the coronavirus pandemic but who were hampered at every turn by the government’s failure to provide PPE and testing.”
She added: “Johnson said ‘too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have’.
“That has a completely different meaning from ‘care homes did not know the procedures’.
“He tried to blame care workers for his own government’s failures and it is utterly indefensible.”