A HAMPSHIRE woman whose father died from Covid has won a case against British Government, after judges ruled policies on discharging patients from hospital to care homes during Covid-19 were "unlawful".

Fay Harris from Alton, whose father Donald died and Cathy Gardner, from Devon whose father Michael Gibson died, both from Covid-19 have said Prime Minister Boris Johnson should resign after the High Court ruling.

Speaking outside court, Miss Harris said she hopes the judgment will help families who lost loved ones "due to this Government's reckless and unlawful policies".

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She said: "Their actions exposed many vulnerable people to a greater risk of death – and many thousands did die.

"It has only increased the distress to me and many others that the Government have not been honest and owned up to their mistakes."

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, hospital patients were discharged into care homes without testing, with Government documents showing there was no requirement for this until mid-April.

Bereaved families and care groups said the ruling proves the "protective ring" then Health Secretary Matt Hancock said had been put around care homes was "non-existent" and residents were "abandoned".

A spokesman for Mr Hancock said Public Health England had failed to tell ministers what they knew about asymptomatic transmission and he wished it had been brought to his attention sooner.

In a ruling on Wednesday, Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Garnham concluded that policies contained in documents released in March and early April 2020 were unlawful because they failed to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from non-symptomatic transmission of the virus.

They said that, despite "growing awareness" of the risk of asymptomatic transmission throughout March 2020, there was no evidence that Mr Hancock addressed the issue of the risk to care home residents in England of such transmission.

The judges said: "In our judgment, this was not a binary question – a choice between on the one hand doing nothing at all, and on the other hand requiring all newly admitted residents to be quarantined.

"The document could, for example, have said that where an asymptomatic patient, other than one who has tested negative, is admitted to a care home, he or she should, so far as practicable, be kept apart from other residents for up to 14 days.

"Since there is no evidence that this question was considered by the secretary of state, or that he was asked to consider it, it is not an example of a political judgment on a finely balanced issue.

"Nor is it a point on which any of the expert committees had advised that no guidance was required.

"The drafters of the documents of March 17 and April 2 simply failed to take into account the highly relevant consideration of the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from asymptomatic transmission."

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The judges rejected other claims by the women made under human rights legislation, and against NHS England.

A spokesman for the former health secretary said the High Court had found he acted reasonably but PHE "failed to tell ministers what they knew about asymptomatic transmission" of Covid-19.

A barrister representing the two women told the court at a hearing in March that between March and June 2020 more than 20,000 elderly or disabled care home residents died from Covid-19 in England and Wales.

"The care home population was known to be uniquely vulnerable to being killed or seriously harmed by Covid-19," said Jason Coppel QC in a written case outline.

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