The majority of today’s PMQs face-off between Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer concerned the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in care homes, after the Office for National Statistics reported yesterday that over 8,000 care home residents have died of Covid-19 – a figure that is expected to rise in the coming weeks.
Boris Johnson’s weakest moments in the session were when Starmer criticised the policy of moving elderly patients from hospitals to care homes at the beginning of the crisis, before they received a negative coronavirus test. The leader of the Labour party quoted a cardiologist who claimed that suspected coronavirus cases were discharged from hospitals into care homes which were ill-equipped to deal with any outbreak. It seems that by attempting to avoid the NHS becoming overwhelmed with patients as Covid-19 began to spread, the outbreak in care homes was made considerably worse – and at some point the government will probably have to admit that this policy was a mistake.
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