Sky News has seen letters which show local authorities threatened to withhold so-called uplift payments during the outbreak.
He said of the original policy:"I believe it was one of the major factors that caused the outbreaks in the care homes."Other factors were maybe the staff, maybe people from outside that came into care homes.
"But if you consider that residents' family members care homes closed their doors quite a while ago so there was only really certain people coming into the care home that may have caused this and that would have been one of them sadly." The Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement:"It's simply untrue that government policy has allowed the spread of COVID-19 in care homes. We've been working with the care sector since February to ensure they've had the best advice, based on the latest scientific evidence.
"We have built the largest diagnostic testing industry in British history from scratch and all care home staff and residents can now be tested, whether they have symptoms or not, with tens of thousands already tested. "We have already delivered 68 million items of PPE to social care and a further 50 million items to local resilience forums to protect staff."
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Number of NHS and care workers who have died from coronavirus reaches 203THE tragic death toll among NHS and care home workers has reached 203. As tributes were paid to the latest casualties, one expert fears a mental health crisis among those who survive. ⚠️ Read our c…
Read more »
Care-worker death rate twice that of health workersHealthcare workers have been no more likely to die with Covid-19 than other 20- to 64-year-olds.
Read more »
Prime minister to launch Covid-19 alert systemBoris Johnson will give details on Sunday of a new system ranking the coronavirus threat level.
Read more »
Coronavirus: Explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, 84, recovers from COVID-19 after 7 weeks in hospitalAfter severe illnesses and being in serious peril while living with tribes around the world, COVID-19 nearly killed the explorer.
Read more »
Thousands of UK coronavirus swabs tested in USThe government says 'operational issues' in the UK meant 50,000 samples had to be flown to US labs.
Read more »
UK coronavirus live: Boris Johnson to announce Covid-19 alert systemOnly 50% of Britons would download NHS tracing app, according to a poll, as photos of busy parks on Saturday brings scrutiny on mixed message from government
Read more »