Did Matt Hancock do job as Health Secretary throughout the covid pandemic? Vote in our ballot
Former health secretary Matt Hancock has given evidence at the Covid inquiry this morning (November 21), where he was grilled on the government’s response to the crisis – and we want to hear your thoughts.
The disgraced politician served as health secretary from July 2018 to June 2021, where he played a key role in drawing up Covid rules and delivering Downing Street press briefings. He was forced to step down from his role after breaking his own social-distancing guidelines, when footage surfaced of him kissing his former aide Gina Coladangelo.
It marks the third time Mr Hancock has given evidence to the inquiry in person, with the latest sitting expected to run into Friday morning. Not only is the inquiry examining the NHS and government’s response to the pandemic, but also how society tackled the virus which caused more than 200,000 deaths across the UK.
When asked today about the message: “Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives,” Mr Hancock defended that it “struck the right balance”, adding: “Because it was literally true that if we didn’t stop the spread of the virus, then the NHS would be overwhelmed”.
The former MP for West Suffolk claimed the government did “everything it could” to keep NHS staff safe, which he said was “extremely difficult”. He told the inquiry: “We stretched that so that one nurse cared for six people, it was a deeply challenging situation.”
Mr Hancock admitted that some cancer treatments were delayed but stated that it was not clinically safe to continue them as they could hinder a patient’s immune system, reports the BBC. He said: “Whilst individual parts were under pressure the overall point is we did not have a collapse in the system”.
Speaking ahead of today’s inquiry, Kate Bell, assistant general secretary of the TUC, said: “NHS staff put their lives on the line to get us through the pandemic. The very least they deserve from Matt Hancock is honesty and accountability.
“The former health secretary must come clean about the readiness and resilience of our health service when Covid struck. This inquiry has heard widespread evidence about how compromised the NHS was following years of underfunding.”
Covid Inquiry chair Heather Hallett wrote in her first report that the Government had prepared for the “wrong pandemic”. Focus had been put on getting ready for a flu outbreak, but preparedness for a pandemic like Covid was “inadequate”.
Hancock was among those blamed for adhering to a flawed 2011 pandemic strategy, which assumed the next pandemic would be flu. Baroness Hallett wrote: “It focused on only one type of pandemic, failed adequately to consider prevention or proportionality of response, and paid insufficient attention to the economic and social consequences of pandemic response.”
As the former politician continues to deliver evidence, we want to know if you think Mr Hancock did a good job as health secretary during the pandemic? Vote in our poll HERE to have your say.
The Mirror will also be discussing the topic with you in the comments section below and you can join in! All you have to do is sign up, submit your comment, register your details and then you can take part.
