Abandoned To Their Fate

Inquiry plea for thousands of victims in care homes sacrificed by Government

- Dan Warburton and Amy Sharpe

Frail care home residents have been sacrificed to Covid-19 – and the Government risks a human rights scandal over their fate, experts warned last night.

Ministers have been accused of responding too slowly to the crisis in care homes – where there have been 17,000 deaths, according to a software firm that tracks the virus.

Leading barristers and advocacy groups last night said the Government’s failure to act could spark a rash of legal claims for human rights abuses.

Amnesty International and Liberty also rounded on the failure to protect 500,000 elderly care home residents.

The group called for a judge-led inquiry and demanded to know why coronavirus positive patients were discharged from the hospital to spread the disease in their communal residences.

Care homes are still weeks away from their Covid-19 peak and more people could be dying there than in hospitals.

Reg Amison, 86, was one of 24 residents to die in three weeks at his care home in Staffordshire as the virus tore through it. And we have pictured 30 other pensioners who have died in recent weeks at homes across the country.

Peter Kyle, the MP for Hove who has campaigned on care homes said: “It has felt as though elderly people have been sacrificed so that younger, fitter people can get treatment in hospital. That is a complete scandal.”