The High Court has ruled that government policies on discharging untested hospital patients into care homes were “unlawful”.

Dr Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris, whose fathers died at the start of the pandemic, brought legal action against the Public Health England and the health secretary, then Matt Hancock, to court.

Despite the government claiming to have “worked tirelessly” to protect the public, the women said that care homes were not helped to keep Covid-19 out and residents were “disregarded”.

Certain key policies and decisions led to a “shocking death toll” of care home residents, according to the legal action brought by the women, including an alleged policy of discharging patients from hospitals into care homes without testing and suitable isolation arrangements.

Speaking outside court, Dr Gardner said outside the court that she “believed all along that my father and other residents of care homes were neglected and let down by the government”.

“The High Court has now vindicated that belief, and our campaign to expose the truth,” she said.

The legal action was brought against the Department for Health and Social Care, NHS England and Public Health England.

Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Garnham found in their judgement that the decisions of the then health secretary to make and maintain a series of policies contained in documents issued on 17 and 19 March and 2 April 2020 were unlawful.

The documents failed to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from non-symptomatic transmission.

More than 20,000 elderly or disabled care home residents died from Covid between March and June 2020 in England and Wales, a barrister representing Dr Gardner, from Sidmouth in Devon, and Ms Harris, from Medstead in Hampshire, told the court at a hearing in March.

Jason Coppel QC also said in a written case outline for the judicial review that the care home population was known to be “uniquely vulnerable” to Covid-19.

“The government’s failure to protect it, and positive steps taken by the government which introduced Covid-19 infection into care homes, represent one of the most egregious and devastating policy failures in the modern era.”

“Every death is a tragedy and we worked tirelessly to protect the public from the threat to life and health posed by the pandemic and specifically sought to safeguard care homes and their residents,” the government said.

Responding on the High Court care home ruling, Vic Rayner OBE, chief executive of National Care Forum said: “During the first wave of the pandemic it was apparent that people who receive care and support, work in care and deliver care services were not on the government’s radar.

“The lack of prioritisation meant that testing, PPE, staffing, funding and research all came too late. The impact of hospital discharge in relation to the spread of Covid-19 within care homes has long been disputed by the government, but this ruling helps bring a vital clarity to the situation that recognises that people who receive care and support needed more protection and should have been at the forefront of government decision making, which they patently were not.”