Matt Hancock ignored call to test all NHS staff, Covid inquiry hears
Giving evidence, Sir Paul, who won the Nobel prize for medicine in 2001, said it was "disturbing" that he did not receive a response to his concerns until July 2020."For the secretary of state to ignore a letter from two Nobel laureates in physiology or medicine for three months is a little surprising, I would say," he told the inquiry."Rather than acknowledge they couldn't do it, because that would have indicated a mistake in their overall strategy, they remained silent."It was likely that the decision not to routinely test NHS and care home staff led to an increase in infections and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic, he added.
Hospitals and care homes
In the first six months of Covid, there was a frantic drive to increase testing for the disease. Matt Hancock set a target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of April 2020 in England.By this time it had become clear to scientists across the world that Covid could be spread by people who had not developed any symptoms of the disease, such as a cough or fever.Sir Paul Nurse, Sir Peter Ratcliffe and their colleague Dr Sam Barrell wrote to Mr Hancock on 14 April 2020 saying they had "grave concerns" about "asymptomatic transmission" between healthcare staff and patients."We advise you that all NHS trusts and healthcare providers should be required to set up surveillance systems for the regular testing of all healthcare workers and patients with immediate effect," the letter said.The scientists received a response on 6 July 2020, signed by a junior official in the Department of Health. That reply did not directly address the subject of healthcare workers, instead stating that testing was a "key part" of the government's strategy and that capacity was being "rapidly expanded".
Lighthouse labs
The Frances Crick Institute, headquartered in north London, is one of the largest biomedical research centres in the world.As Covid hit, a team of 300 volunteers started using the organisation's laboratory space and equipment to process Covid tests for dozens of hospitals, GP surgeries and care homes in the local area.It had the capacity to carry out 4,000 tests a day and to increase that to 10,000 with more funding, according to Prof Nurse.In March 2020, he wrote to the government offering to help with the national testing effort.Instead ministers decided to set up a network of giant privately-run Lighthouse laboratories.In his evidence, Prof Nurse accepted that the larger sites were needed, but said "insufficient attention" was paid to universities and other publicly-funded institutions, which could have more quickly processed tests for healthcare workers.The sixth part of the Covid inquiry, which looks at the performance of test, trace and quarantine systems across the UK, runs until the end of May.
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With a £40,000 mortgage still remaining on the property, the couple will be left with next to nothing to show for their 15 years as owner occupiers once legal fees are settled. The campaign group they are part of has been backed by TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, who has a home in Dundee. Like her fellow campaigner in Aberdeen, Mrs Hoskins highlights those less fortunate than herself – such as the Dundee man in his early 20s whose RAAC-affected property is now worth almost 40 per cent less than he paid for it. 'He can't move because any offer he got wouldn't cover his outstanding mortgage. 'He'd be going into negative equity through no fault of his own because nobody seemingly knew about RAAC in homes and properties until they were asked to inspect it by the Scottish Government in 2023.' Back then, a catalogue of public buildings, including schools, libraries, hospitals and community centres were already known to contain RAAC. The lightweight cement, whose texture resembles an Aero chocolate bar, was used in buildings with flat or low-pitched roofs and, alarmingly, was considered to have a lifespan of only 30 years. When exposed to moisture it can become structurally unsound. Repairs were ordered for public buildings, then the focus shifted to social housing – and the enormity of the issue began to emerge. Not only were hundreds – and later thousands – of properties identified as containing RAAC, but many had been sold to private owners multiple times since the local authority built them. Almost none of their home reports had flagged up RAAC. Yet a search of Dundee city archives reveals not only that the local authority knew about RAAC but that it was also aware of potential defects in it as early as the late 1970s. That, points out Mrs Hoskins, was before right-to-buy legislation was even introduced. Were these properties, then, mis-sold in the 1980s and thereafter? Did the council have a duty to flag up RAAC – along with the devastating consequences which might lie decades down the line? And what of the other councils across Scotland? Did Aberdeen fail to divulge this key detail too? Former council leader Alex Nicoll suggested at a public meeting last month that the issue had been known about in the city for decades. Thus far, Dundee's strategy has been to embark on a programme of reinforcing the affected properties – and to bill private residents for their share of the work, even if they have not agreed to it. That has resulted in demands for up to £7,000, but many have claimed paying up would be throwing good money after bad. Even after the repairs, the properties would still contain RAAC and would therefore remain practically unsellable. A Dundee City Council spokesman said: 'Defects can happen in properties of all construction types and there was no prior equivalent industry-wide concern about RAAC until the issues came to light in schools in England from 2019 onwards. 'Where communal works are undertaken to mixed tenure blocks the council re-charges a proportionate share of the costs of these works to private owners.' In Tillicoultry, meanwhile, 27 properties – ten privately owned – were declared uninhabitable and shuttered up when RAAC was identified in 2023. Some owners were given hours to clear out. One, Frances Reid, recalled: 'I got a phone call on my way home from work one day, saying: 'Can you get back now to evacuate your property?' When I got there it was chaos.' Auxiliary nurse Lynsey McQuater was another owner suddenly declared homeless. After moving in with her mother, she said: 'I was absolutely distraught, in floods of tears when it happened. I thought I had a home, I had security, I had a plan for my future. That was all ripped away.' Last week, the council said it would buy back any properties that private owners wished to dispose of, but at a price reflecting the cost of repairs. Who should pay, then, for this monumental shambles? It is a question Liam Kerr has asked recently-appointed housing minister Mairi McAllan repeatedly. Indeed, he says, he has already identified an unspent £20million housing pot first allocated to Aberdeen in 2016 which must be used within the next year. The problem? No one seems to know the criteria by which the money could be released. He suggests the minister had 'ignored this solution entirely'. He tells the Mail: 'The Scottish Government has devolved responsibility for setting RAAC right, which, all-too-predictably, the SNP are paddling frantically to get away from.' He adds: 'I believe there will be a documentary expose of this, some day soon, about how lives have been destroyed in communities across Scotland, caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, while ministers just looked on.' While the Scottish Government has argued that Westminster must roll out a UK-wide RAAC relief fund, both the previous Conservative administration and the current Labour one have reminded its ministers that housing is devolved. So the buck passing goes on. 'Something is going to happen, there's going to be that straw that breaks the back,' warns Paula Fraser, who was rehomed from her Aberdeen property as a result of RAAC. There are ominous signs that it will be a tragedy.
