I’ve seen firsthand the government’s treatment of the care sector – it has not been pretty

On becoming prime minister 18 months ago, Boris Johnson pledged to ‘fix the crisis in social care once and for all’, writes Andrew Grice, but the turn of the year marks another promise broken

Matt Hancock prioritised the crown jewel of the NHS, and avoiding the chaotic scenes in Italy’s hospitals in March, over the largely hidden world of care homes (AFP)

For my family, Christmas and new year will be remembered for the wrong reasons: my sister, brother and I were unable to visit my 95-year-old mother in her care home. Visits were abruptly cancelled on 21 December because the home’s area had entered tier 4. Visits to the home where my 98-year-old mother-in-law lives were halted for the same reason.  

Far from the hugging and hand-holding Christmas visits, after rapid tests for relatives, trumpeted by Matt Hancock, my family ended up with no visits. The homes blame the government, which points the finger at individual homes. The Department for Health and Social Care told me: “Visits to care homes can still take place in tier 4 with arrangements such as substantial screens or visiting pods.”

It’s another sign of the dysfunctional relationship between the government and the 15,000 care homes not under its direct control like the NHS, but run by private operators and overseen by local authorities. The worst example came when 25,000 patients were dumped on them by hospitals last March and April without being tested.