Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan has hammered Care Minister Helen Whately for failing to know how many health workers have died in the second gruelling interview with the minister in a week.
Ms Whately appeared on the show last week and was criticised for laughing as Piers confronted her over the number of people that were reported to have died in care homes.
The interview this morning Piers continued to grilled the minister on the figures that are currently being published by the government.
It has so far been reported that 111 care workers across the UK have died from the coronavirus. But Ms Whately said that 61 NHS workers had died and just 15 care workers.
Piers quoted a new report from the Financial Times that suggested 41,000 people could have died from the virus, Ms Whately said ‘that was not a number she recognised’.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain from her home in Kent, Ms Whately said the government is currently changing the way it collects data, before admitting that ‘more people than usual’ are dying in care homes.
‘We know 61 NHS workers have very sadly died and we have a figure at the moment of 15 care workers that have died.’
Piers showed a graphic of the people who worked in the NHS and across the care home sector which stated that it was in fact 111 people who have died from the virus. Piers added that the government is understating what is going on and asked why the government was not setting up a system to combat the amount of deaths.
‘We are indeed setting up the systems to make sure we have accurate data and that is why we are careful to make sure we use data that is accurate. We don’t want to mislead people.’
Speaking from her home in Kent this morning Helen Whately appeared on Good Morning Britain
The government has also faced criticism due to a lack of PPE, in other updates:
- Dominic Raab is said to have forced a top civil servant to drop his claim that snubbing EU procurement scheme on coronavirus PPE was ‘political’
- Over 50s should stay at home to protect the NHS during pandemic
- Empty 4,000-bed Nightingale hospital turns away 30 ‘life or death’ coronavirus patients from other packed London wards because it lacks nurses and has only treated a total of 40 people
- Leaked memo reveals coronavirus tests given to NHS staff to let them return to work are flawed and gave false all-clear readings
- RAF plane carrying vital PPE lands in Britain but it only has half the promised 84 tonnes of equipment
Looking at testing capacity and how deaths can be prevented Ms Whately said the capacity and number of people taking the tests mattered and highlighted there had been over 17,000 deaths in hospital.
‘The situation with data we have is that it includes some people who have died in hospitals and it would be misleading.
‘We are changing the way we collect the data so we are able to publish specific figures’.
‘The ONS say 1,043 have died in care homes, I think there are probably more people than that who have died in care homes and we hope to publish more figures next week’, she said.
Piers pushed on and asked how many people she believed had actually died in care homes.
The doctors’ daughter who entered politics to improve the NHS
In another life Helen Whately could have been on the other side of the coronavirus debate – directly helping patients in hospital.
The mother of three, 43, has been the MP for the affluent seat of Faversham and Mid Kent since the 2015 election.
But her parents are both doctors and she came close to following in their footsteps.
However, in her maiden Commons’ speech in 2015 she revealed her upbringing had led her to a different path.
‘I come from a family of doctors, and I nearly followed in their footsteps, but time spent in hospitals as a teenager—not because I was ill; I just did lots of work experience—triggered a different ambition,’ she said.
‘I wanted to improve the National Health Service itself. After a stint in telecoms, I spent nearly a decade working in healthcare.’
Mrs Whately was tipped in 2008 as a rising Tory star by society journal Tatler.
After studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at Oxford she worked as a management consultant and an advisor to shadow culture secretary Hugo Swire she contested Kingston and Surbiton in 2010, losing heavily to current Lib Dem acting leader Ed Davey.
She was chosen for her Kent seat on an all-female shortlist for 2015 as the incumbent Hugh Robertson stepped down.
She was briefly made a deputy chairwoman of the Conservative Party in the dying days of Theresa May’s administration last year, before becoming a junior minister at the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport last September.
In February this year she was promoted to Social care Minister, as the coronavirus outbreak began to become a global concern.
She has been married to Marcus since 2005.
‘We have started changing the way we collect the data so next week we can publish a specific figure.’
Piers referred to a piece in today Financial Times that states the deaths are closer to nearly 41,000.
Ms Whately added: ‘That is not a figure I recognise and that it probably one of the issues in using data that isn’t accurate and hasn’t been validated’.
She added again that she didn’t recognise the figure and Piers responded that it was ‘hard to recognise a figure when you don’t know the amount of people who have died’.
Ms Whately reiterated that the government will publish the figures next week. Piers said he found it ‘insulting’ that the care minister did not know the number of people dying in care homes.
He said people that die in hospitals are getting more respect than people who die in care homes. He said she was not taking their deaths seriously enough.
‘That’s an incredibly unreasonable accusation, I take every death seriously, I would wish that nobody would die but the fact is is that this is a horrid virus and we know that those who are in care homes are the most vulnerable because of their age and because they have underlying health conditions.
‘We know people are dying in care homes’, she added.
Piers said 11,000 people had died in care homes and that the FT had completely different numbers to the government minister.
He said the reason that this matters, is that if these figures are correct then it would mean the UK is the second worst-hit country in the world, just second to America in terms of deaths caused by the virus.
‘What I am saying to you is we need to make sure the figures we have don’t duplicate so we can publish next week data that has hospital deaths and other care settings.
‘It’s important we share accurate data.
‘We know people are dying in care homes and the outbreaks are hard to contain there.
‘We are working with care homes and local authorities to provide them with as much support as we can and as much support we can get to them’.
She added that throughout this process the government had been taking the scientific advise, but highlighted that everyone was still learning about the virus and how best to manage outbreaks.
‘We also have known all the way through that people would die, we are doing everything we can’.
The deaths of even more front line workers were reported yesterday with a ‘dedicated and always happy to help’ orthopaedic surgeon and a ‘passionate and hardworking’ nurse having been some of the latest victims.
Sadeq Elhowsh, 58, described by his colleagues as ‘a much-loved member of the team’, worked at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in Merseyside as a surgeon for 17 years before he died at Whiston Hospital.
The father-of-four, who died in the hospital he worked at, was described as a ‘wonderful husband as well as a devoted father’
Sadeq Elhowsh, 58, an orthopaedic surgeon who worked at St Helens and Knowley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, died from coronavirus. Pictured with his sons
In a tribute to the surgeon, who died in the hospital he worked at, the father-of-four’s family said: ‘Sadeq was a wonderful husband as well as a devoted father and he dearly loved his family.
‘We cannot put into words the depth of our loss. He loved his work and was dedicated to supporting his patients and his colleagues.’
Hospital chief executive Ann Marr OBE added: ‘Sadeq will be sadly missed by all who knew and worked with him. He was without doubt a much-loved member of the team.’
Josephine Peter, a nurse at Southport and Formby District General Hospital, has been described as a ‘heroine’ by her devastated husband after she died from the virus on Saturday, April 18.
Josephine Peter, a nurse at Southport and Formby District General Hospital, leaves behind her husband Thabo, her two children Bongani and Buhle and a granddaughter
Juliet Alder, who worked at the Hammersmith and Fulham Mental Health Unit, died from coronavirus aged 58 on Tuesday, April 14
According to a GoFundMe page set up to honour Mrs Peter, who worked as a nurse for 20 years, she leaves behind her husband Thabo, her two children Bongani and Buhle who live in South Africa and a granddaughter.
She was raised in Johannesburg, South Africa during Apartheid where, according to the fundraising page, she was ‘whipped and humiliated by the then white ruling party’ but she never let it break her spirit.
The fundraiser, which has raised more than £3,000 so far, said she graduated as a professional nurse at University of Fort Hare and Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, South Africa, in 1998 before moving to the UK in 2002.
She had been working at Southport hospital since February on an agency contract until she fell ill in early April.
James Lock, chief executive of Altrix, the nursing agency that employed her, said: ‘Josephine was a diligent nurse who was highly regarded and liked by the team.
‘She would always go that extra mile and was a pleasure to work with. My team and I send our very best wishes and deepest condolences to Josephine’s family.”
Liz Shale, 61, an NHS administration worker from Leeds died two days after she was rushed to hospital
Liz Shale, a 61-year-old NHS administration worker from Leeds, died just two days after being rushed to hospital on Tuesday, April 7.
Her family, who described her as ‘loving and crazy’ have pleaded with people to ‘take this virus seriously’ after they were unable to visit and say goodbye to her before she died at St James’s University Hospital and will have to watch her funeral via video link due to new restrictions.
The grandmother-of-eight worked for the NHS for more than 20 years and spent the last decade working in palliative care in Bradford.
Her son, Danny, said: ‘She was funny, loving and crazy, she would do owt for a laugh. She was definitely a character.
‘She was always cracking jokes to make them all laugh and keep them motivated.
‘She knew she had to keep going to work when this started and started working from home the week before everyone was told to but even though she had been staying at home, she still got it.’
He added: ‘Our life will never be the same again. My mum won’t get to see my children grow up all because of this virus. How people don’t realise the impact this has?
‘Basically, she’s now just seen as another number – a statistic – and it shouldn’t be that way. People should know who she was, not see her as another person who died.’
Another victim, Kirsty Jones, 41, had been working as a healthcare assistant and recently taken up a position in one of Lanarkshire’s Assessment Centres, based in Airdrie Health Centre, to help in the frontline response against the pandemic.
Kirsty Jones, 41, was working at an assessment centre helping in the frontline response. She leaves behind her husband Nigel and two sons, Sam age 14 and Finlay, four
Her death sees her leave behind her husband Nigel, and two sons, Sam aged 14 and Finlay, four.
Mr Jones said: ‘Kirsty devoted her life to caring for others. She was larger than life itself and was a constant source of happiness for all who were around her.
‘Kirsty will be greatly missed by all who knew her. A void has opened in our hearts that will never be filled.’
Tributes have also been paid to Khulisani Nkala, a mental health nurse who died on Friday.
Khulisani Nkala, 46, worked as a mental health nurse for the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and died from the virus on Friday
The 46-year-old was the first staff member at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to died from the virus.
Dr Sara Munro, chief executive of the trust, said: ‘Khuli was a well-respected and selfless professional nurse who ‘always put the patient first’ and will be greatly missed by his colleagues.’
Juliet Alder, who died from coronavirus aged 58 on Tuesday, April 14, worked at the Hammersmith and Fulham Mental Health Unit supporting older people in the last weeks of their life.
She is the first member of the team to die from Covid-19, leaving behind her husband and daughter, and was described by her colleagues as ‘kind, caring and thoughtful.’
Her coworkers said: ‘She was compassionate to patients, colleagues and carers and maternal towards those who came in contact with her.
‘Juliet had a beaming smile and an infectious laughter and took great pride in looking after others. She’ll be missed by all.’
Yesterday it was announced Manjeet Riyat, a ‘widely respected’ doctor, who became the first Sikh to work as an A&E consultant in Britain, was one of the latest NHS victims of the pandemic.
Manjeet Riyat died at the Royal Derby Hospital on Monday (University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust/PA)
The 52-year-old was described by colleagues at the Royal Derby Hospital as the ‘father of the emergency department.’
The married father-of-two, who previously worked at Leicester Royal Infirmary and Lincoln County Hospital, has been described as ‘instrumental’ in building the emergency medicine service in Derbyshire over the past 20 years.
He died on Monday at Royal Derby Hospital, the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust said.
Married father-of-two Craig Wakeham, a doctor at the Cerne Abbas surgery in Dorset for three decades, died from coronavirus at the weekend, it emerged on Monday.
Married father-of-two Craig Wakeham, a doctor at the Cerne Abbas surgery in Dorset for three decades, died from coronavirus at the weekend, it emerged today
His colleagues at the surgery said: ‘His industry and innovation led our practice for 30 years.
‘He was also a leading light in both the Clinical Commissioning Group and Local Medical Committee, as well as a devoted husband a father to his two boys.
‘His legacy lives on in our patients who he cared for diligently, and in the good name he built for our surgery.’
Mr Riyat also acted as an emergency medicine tutor at Derby College where he oversaw the education of junior doctors.
His death marks the second at the trust, after Dr Amged El-Hawrani, an ear, nose and throat consultant at Queen’s Hospital Burton, became the first frontline hospital doctor to die in the pandemic.
Dr Amged El-Hawrani became the UK’s first front-line hospital doctor to die from coronavirus following warnings that a lack of protective equipment would cost medical staff lives