All care homes will be able to allow visits for Christmas, Matt Hancock says

Testing will be available for relatives, health secretary promises – but final decision rests with care home owners and councils

All care homes will be able to allow visits for Christmas, Matt Hancock has said, amid growing criticism of delays in introducing safety measures.

As a trial at 20 homes finally gets under way – allowing relatives of residents to have pre-visit Covid tests – the health secretary said testing would be available across the country for the festive period.

Mr Hancock stressed that the final decision on whether to allow visits rested with the individual owners of care homes and with local councils, but said: “I hope to have that in place for all care homes by Christmas.”

Under the current rules, friends and family can often only see loved ones through “prison-style” screens, or windows. Other care homes only allow outdoor or drive-through visits, and some do not allow visits at all.

Confronted with the case of a Parkinson’s sufferer unable to visit his wife, who has Alzheimer’s, Mr Hancock described such situations as “heartbreaking”.

But he warned: “When this disease gets into our homes, we know that people in care homes are particularly vulnerable to it.”

And he told BBC Radio 4: “This rollout will be a challenge. We have got to make sure the right rules and protocols are in place so that the testing keeps people safe.”

Owners of care homes may be cautious after Boris Johnson notoriously blamed them for up to 20,000 deaths in their properties in the early stages of the pandemic.

In fact, the government decided to discharge 25,000 hospital patients who had not been tested into care settings, even as Mr Hancock claimed to have “thrown a protective ring” around them.

Meanwhile, the number of outbreaks in care homes has reached almost 400 a month, new documents show, triggering accusations that the government has failed to stop agency workers spreading the virus.

Ministers have long promised to stop them working on multiple sites but have gone no further than starting a consultation on doing that.

In July, research showed that the use of agency staff increased the chance of outbreaks by 58 per cent.

The pilot schemes will begin in Hampshire, Cornwall and Devon – all areas currently with a low-infection rate – with regular testing for one family member or friend per resident, either at home, or a rapid-result test at the home itself.

It will require a huge expansion to reach all 16,000 care homes in England, and Mr Hancock suggested that there was no desire to change the law to allow him to force homes to act.

Nadra Ahmed, of the National Care Association, said: “Every day without tests is another lost opportunity for people who haven't got long left in life to see their families.”

And Fiona Carragher, of the Alzheimer's Society, said: “Unless a home has an outbreak, family carers must be allowed to visit loved ones, getting the protective equipment and regular testing that key workers do, because isolation is a matter of life or death too.

“People with dementia have waited an excruciating eight months to see loved ones, causing huge heartbreak and a tragic loss of life we cannot allow to go on. The pilots can't be an excuse to delay national rollout.”