A woman who lost her dad to Covid during the pandemic after he was advised to take paracetamol slammed Matt Hancock 's testimony today. The disgraced former health secretary was booed by furious bereaved families at the Covid-19 Inquiry following claims the NHS was not overwhelmed during the pandemic. He received a hostile reception upon arrival before he caused anger among families in the public gallery who each held up photos of relatives who died.
During often testy exchanges Mr Hancock was presented with evidence that people died because of a lack of NHS staff and some patients were denied lifesaving treatment. His insistence that “people got treated” and “we did not have a collapse in the system” sparked an angry response from families. Rivka Gottlieb, whose father Michael Gottlieb died after catching Covid, said: “Dad came down with Covid the day before the first lockdown and we were really scared because of what was happening in Italy but we couldn’t get medical attention.
We called NHS 111 but it was not fit for purpose. They read from a script and told him to take paracetamol and stay home. The NHS was overwhelmed because people couldn’t get the care they needed.
I found his testimony shocking. Why did they leave it so late to increase NHS capacity?” Elaine Seaton, 77, lost her husband Harvey, said: “We couldn’t get a doctor of NHS 111. They were overwhelmed.
I think it’s absolutely disgusting.” Larry Byrne, whose father and namesake Larry Byr.