A Suffolk woman whose father died alone during the pandemic has hit out at comments made by Matt Hancock during the ongoing UK Covid-19 Inquiry. 

On Thursday, former health secretary and west Suffolk MP Matt Hancock denied there was an "absence of a plan" ahead of the pandemic and said that even if they had been "perfect", his department would still have had to strengthen its operation.

Giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, he said: "I take issue with 'absence of a plan'. There wasn't absence of a plan, there were plans. I've critiqued the plans, I've said that they weren't adequate but there were plans in place."

He cited the 2011 pandemic plan and the sickness exercise carried out while Jeremy Hunt was health secretary as examples.

Susanna Woodsford was unable to see her father Ian Ward, an 85-year-old retired maths teacher at Stowmarket Middle School, before he died in 2020 after he contracted the virus in hospital where he had been admitted with an unrelated illness. 

East Anglian Daily Times: Ian Ward, an 85-year-old retired maths teacher at Stowmarket Middle School, died in 2020Ian Ward, an 85-year-old retired maths teacher at Stowmarket Middle School, died in 2020 (Image: Family of Ian Ward)

She said of Matt Hancock's comments: "The issue is, the plans should have been good enough.

"I look back on it all and I just do not understand any of it. I don't know how all those people were allowed to die like they did. 

"I think they [the government] just bumbled along to the best of their ability day by day and listened to what they wanted to listen to." 

The former minister defended aspects of the early response to the pandemic and said: "There were areas in which the early response was very strong.

"Of course, when a pandemic strikes, even if you had the very best plans, those responsible for responding would have to strengthen the operation, would have to tool up, and in the early days we expanded the department very significantly and we ultimately brought in army personnel for instance, lots more clinical personnel and we took people off non-pandemic-related work and put them on to pandemic-related work." 

He added that this would have been necessary "even if we have the perfect plan".

Mr Hancock denied that his department lacked "grip" at the start of the pandemic, saying a "toxic culture" at the centre of Government meant there was a lack of "empathy".

While he accepted that DHSC had not got everything right, he said his department had risen to "the challenge overall of responding to the biggest public health challenge in a century".

East Anglian Daily Times: Matt Hancock has denied that there was an absence of a plan and a lack of grip during the pandemic Matt Hancock has denied that there was an absence of a plan and a lack of grip during the pandemic (Image: Sarah Lucy Brown, Newsquest)

He rejected claims from a number of witnesses, including Dominic Cummings and former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, that made reference to him "lying" and "getting overexcited and just saying stuff", and called them "false allegations".

Mr Hancock said: "I was not. You will note that there's no evidence from anybody who I worked with in the department or the health system who supported those false allegations."

Elysia Depledge, who lives near Beccles, lost her mother Jenny Bone, 72, a former director of the London School of Economics, on April 6, 2020, after she tested positive for Covid-19 just weeks after the country went into lockdown. 

Ms Depledge said of the inquiry: "It is really distressing, hearing it repeated that we should've had a lockdown earlier. Had lockdown been just four days earlier, my mum would be here.

"Mum was not protected, none of us were. It was luck who survived and who didn't." 

Ms Depledge is now part of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, and said members are hoping lessons can be learnt from the inquiry. 

"It is becoming clear that responsibility, whether taken or not, is there. It is clear people did not do their jobs or what they were supposed to do," she said.

"The main thing, I think for most bereaved people, is that something like this does not happen again. 

"None of this is going to bring mum back, but if we can stop another family from losing their mum or loved ones then that kind of means it meant something and something positive has come out of it."