Inquiry chair challenges ex-health secretary over his assertion NHS was available to all during pandemic

Cancelling non-urgent treatment of patients during the pandemic was the “least bad” of a series of “awful options”, Matt Hancock has admitted.

In his third and at times combative appearance at the Covid-19 inquiry, in which he repeatedly interrupted inquiry counsel, Jacqueline Carey KC, the former health secretary defended his decision to allow the NHS to postpone routine treatment and care from April 2020.