Just as the British public was breathing a tentative sigh of relief that the National Health Service appeared to have survived the peak of the coronavirus epidemic, evidence emerged that this may have come at a catastrophic cost. The epidemic is still raging unchecked, with the number of cases increasing exponentially in care homes across the country. It was into such homes that many elderly and infirm patients were discharged from hospital when, in a state of near panic, the order was given to clear hospital wards for an expected flood of Covid-19 cases from the general public.

The fear in government circles was that the NHS would be overwhelmed, and its capacity, particularly for dealing with seriously ill cases in intensive care units, would be stretched beyond breaking point. With this in mind, under NHS directives issued on 19 March and 2 April, residential and nursing homes were told to expect to receive patients deemed to be no longer benefitting from hospital care. They were being discharged from NHS hospitals regardless of whether they had coronavirus symptoms and regardless of whether they had been tested.