Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan clashed with Dr Hilary Jones over government advice for elderly patients leaving hospital amid the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday’s show.
After care home bosses warned that a lack of testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) was leaving residents and staff vulnerable, Piers challenged Dr Hilary on why elderly patients were discharged from hospital into care homes without being tested in the earlier stages of the epidemic.
"A large number of those [deaths] Hilary are in care homes […] there was a decision taken to free up beds in NHS hospitals, to send people who had Covid-19 who were not tested before they went back to care homes." the presenter said.
Dr Hilary then responded by saying: "We can't prove how many people were discharged from hospital who were Covid-19 positive because we didn't have testing at the time," before going on to compare the situation with cruise ships and enclosed infection.
A furious Morgan then challenged: "Hilary, let me stop you, here's the difference – they knew that the patients in hospital had Covid-19 but they didn't check they were now negative before they sent them out."
Dr Hilary then responded: "We didn't have the capacity and I'm sure people will look back and say mistakes were made." Susanna Reid then added: "This is not a criticism of care home staff, they are doing a stellar job."
The doctor then added that he thinks the crisis is a “tragedy”, but wanted to share "the facts” of why deaths are so high.
The coronavirus outbreak has had a devastating impact on UK care homes, with more than 8,300 Covid-1-related deaths in England between April 10 and May 8, according to the Care Quality Commission, including 1,503 which occurred in the week up to May 8.
Morgan has been an outspoken critic of the UK government response to the coronavirus crisis. Yesterday Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood abruptly left a video call with Morgan and co-host Susanna Reid after the presenters challenged him on a clip of Prime Minister Boris Johnson telling the public to stay at home if they can but go to work if they have no alternative.
Morgan also claimed government ministers have been banned from appearing on Good Morning Britain after a series of “train wreck” interviews about the Covid-19 pandemic. He called the apparent boycott “disgraceful” after Health Secretary Matt Hancock appeared on other networks.
