A BARNSLEY MP has hit out at the Prime Minister after he claimed too many care homes ‘didn’t follow procedures’ during the coronavirus pandemic.

The comments were made on Monday when Boris Johnson appeared to blame care homes for not doing their bit to stop the spread of virus.

“We discovered too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have but we’re learning lessons the whole time,” he said.

His comment caused outrage across the country, but a spokesperson for Downing Street has stuck by the quote and said the Prime Minister was ‘not blaming care homes’ as asymptomatic transmission was not known at the time.

The Prime Minister previously came under fire in May after hospital patients were moved from wards and into care homes to help free beds for potential Covid patients, which led the virus to spread through care homes.

Now, Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis has hit out at the comments and has urged the government to take responsibility.

He said: “Our care workers have gone above and beyond the call of duty, working tirelessly to protect elderly and vulnerable people from this awful disease.

“Some have given their lives by continuing to serve residents throughout this pandemic and my heartfelt thanks goes out to them and their families.

“It is insulting for the Prime Minster to suggest that they are somehow to blame for the tragic number of deaths we have seen to date.

“The government must take responsibility.”

Throughout the pandemic, care homes across the country have been on the frontline of the virus.

Many carers have been forced to live at their places of work to avoid transmission of the virus, and families were prohibited from visiting their loved ones in the homes.

Manager of Ward Green Lodge Care Home, Wendy Waddington, said she was angered after reading the Prime Minister’s comments.

“My staff have gone above and beyond during the pandemic,” she said. “I am so proud of them, and they have given up so much to help take care of our residents.

“We have had to pay increased prices for PPE and followed all the procedures that we could yet we still had cases at the home.

“We wouldn’t have got through this without our community matron, Julie Bassendale, who helped get medicine for our residents and made sure that we were looked after.

“What Boris Johnson said angered me because he has tried to blame everyone else for the problems when he has no-one to blame but himself.”