Hancock defends moving hospital patients to care homes during Covid pandemic

Ex-health secretary tells inquiry policy to free up hospital beds in early days of pandemic was ‘least worst decision’

Discharging untested patients from hospitals to care homes during the Covid pandemic was the “least worst decision”, the former health secretary Matt Hancock has told a public inquiry.

In his testimony to the UK Covid-19 inquiry on Wednesday, Hancock defended the decision – which was later ruled illegal in a high court judgment – to move hospital patients into care homes during the early weeks of the pandemic to free up space.