Matt Hancock wanted to decide “who should live and who should die” if hospitals became overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, the former NHS England boss has claimed.
In his witness statement to the inquiry, the peer said: “The secretary of state for health and social care took the position that in this situation he – rather than, say, the medical profession or the public – should ultimately decide who should live and who should die.Giving oral evidence to the inquiry, he added: “I certainly wanted to discourage the idea that an individual secretary of state, other than in the most exceptional circumstances, should be deciding how care would be provided.
At one stage, Mr Cummings claimed Mr Hancock had “lied his way through this and killed people and dozens and dozens of people have seen it”.Ms MacNamara, who served as deputy cabinet secretary, also claimed in her evidence that Mr Hancock displayed “nuclear levels” of overconfidence and a pattern of reassuring colleagues the pandemic was being dealt with in ways that were not true.
Sir Christopher Wormald, who remains permanent secretary at the department, said: “There were a lot of people who said that the secretary of state was overoptimistic about what would happen and overpromised on what could be delivered.