Cathy Gardner, daughter of an 88-year-old man who is thought to have died of COVID-19 in a care home has begun legal action against UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Gardner said that her father, Michael Gibson, died in an Oxfordshire care home in April soon after Hancock claimed that he'd placed a "protective ring" around the retirement facilities.
Earlier, she served a pre-action letter on the health secretary urging him to retract the statement, but after failing to receive an adequate response, a legal action for judicial review has been launched against Hancock, NHS England and Public Health England.
“The defendants have failed to engage with my concerns, failed to disclose relevant documents and have sought to hide behind procedural objections. This is a shameful reply when thousands of very vulnerable people have lost their lives as well as members of staff," Gardner said as quoted by the Sky News.
According to her, the UK government disregarded advice from the World Health Organisation and its own Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and applied policies that had put care homes at risk.
As per the Office for National Statistics, over 16,000 people have died from COVID-19 in UK care homes; for comparison's sake, in 2018, there were 1,784 people killed in fatal traffic accidents in the UK.
