Review contradicts Boris Johnson over allegations that he ordered early retirement homes in the UK

By Andrew MacAskill and Stephen Gray

LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the British parliament on Wednesday that his government had acted quickly to protect the country's vulnerable nursing homes. Under increasing pressure to defend his record in the fight against Covid-19, he said: "We introduced the closure of retirement homes before the general closure."

A review by Reuters of the guidelines issued for nursing homes, as well as interviews with three providers of nursing homes, have provided no evidence that such an early closure had been ordered.

The government management of retirement homes has become a major controversy in Parliament. According to Reuters analysis of official figures (https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britain-carehomes/exclusive-uk-coronavirus-outbreak-kills-at-least-20000- in- care -homes-reuters-calculus-idUKKBN22O2MR), the pandemic has killed more than 20,000 in British retirement homes.

The Prime Minister's spokesman told reporters on Wednesday that, in his comments to Parliament that day, Johnson was referring to the government's council for the upkeep of houses, released on March 13. This council, he said, "only recommended essential visits, which obviously took place before we intervened across the country in matters of social distancing." The government issued a general closure order to the nation on March 23.

Government directives of March 13 (https: // were ambiguous, shows a review of the documents. The notice, revised by Reuters, did not prohibit visits from family or friends.

Instead, the document from Public Health England, an official agency, advised home care providers to "review their visit policy by asking anyone visiting to suspect Covid-19 or who is generally unwell, and focusing on good hygiene. hands for visitors. "Balancing these restrictions, he said that nursing home policies" should also take into account the well-being of residents and ; positive impact of seeing friends and family. "

At a press conference on March 16, Johnson said that "absolutely, we don't want people unnecessarily visiting nursing homes".

Reuters has found no official directive making this notice mandatory. The news agency asked at 10 Downing Street, Johnson's office, if it could indicate an official order that nursing homes should be close to outside visitors, before the UK's biggest closure on 23 March. A government spokesperson referred the March 13 council to Reuters. When asked if there were other instructions for looking after houses between March 13 and the general closure on March 23, the spokeswoman said no.

In a statement, the government said it "maintains regular contact with nursing homes to provide advice on reducing the spread of infection. We continued to review and update update our advice, according to the latest scientific advice. "

The government's cautious approach to imposing restrictions was described in early March by Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer. At the launch of the government's coronavirus action plan on March 3, Whitty told reporters that specific advice for nursing homes would be released in the future, "but one of the things we want to avoid … is to do too much. soon. " He explained that premature action would bring no benefit "but what you get is a social cost".

A Reuters survey last week (https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/health-coronavirus-britain-elderly) detailed how the government is focusing on protecting hospitals, to prevent emergency exceeded, left residents of nursing home and staff exposed to COVID-19. To free up hospital beds, many patients were discharged from vulnerable and elderly homes, many without testing for pathogenic coronavirus.

On May 5, when Reuters originally asked the Department of Health and Welfare when it was first ordered to ban family and friends' home visits, a Press officer replied: "There was no order, the healthcare providers made their own decisions about the visitors."

Later in the day, another press secretary said the guide was published in a document dated April 2 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data / file / 884263 / admission-and-care-of-residents-during-covid-19-incident-in-a-care-home.pdf), that these visits should only be carried out in exceptional circumstances, for example in resident deaths. This guide was published 10 days after the national closure and 20 days after the previous more nuanced advice on home maintenance.

Joyce Pinfield, who runs two nursing homes and sits on the board of the National Care Association, an organization representing caregivers, said she spent time Wednesday after Johnson's comments to Parliament for try to find out when the order to close the retirement homes has been issued. She stated that she had found no trace of an order before the UK general closure on March 23 and the April 2 instruction to close the houses to outside visits, and concluded that 39; there had been none.

"The orientation should have been much better," he said. "Healthcare providers had to make their own decisions."

Pinfield's opinion echoed Julie Nicholls, director of the Appleby Lodge residential home in Cornwall. Nicholls said that nursing home managers had to make their own decisions about restricting visits. He closed his nursing home on March 13, the day after the government changed the threat level to "high" and the Prime Minister warned the nation to expect to lose loved ones .

Nicholls said he "definitely had no government direction" to close before the general shutdown mandated by Johnson on March 23. "There has never been a formal order," he said.

Opposition lawmakers accused Johnson this week of misleading Parliament on how the government treated coronavirus.

Labor leader Keir Starmer clashed with the Prime Minister in parliament on Wednesday with the Public Health Guide to England's Retirement Homes, which was in service from February 25 to March 12. That said, as Reuters reported on May 5, "It is very unlikely that people receiving care in a nursing home will be infected." A government spokesperson told Reuters in early May that the council "faithfully reflected the situation at a time when the risk of infection was entering a retirement home".

Johnson replied to Starmer that "it was not true that the board said that".

After the debate, Starmer wrote to Johnson asking him to correct his comment. The Prime Minister replied that he had kept his comments and accused the Labor leader of citing the documents in a selective and misleading manner.