Inquiry owes families answers

THE Scottish public inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be a long, slow, painful reflection on the last 18 months, which have come to dominate and define our everyday lives.

It is only now that the deep effects of the pandemic are surfacing along with the questions posed by grieving relatives in the Record today.

What went wrong for the more than 8000 Scots who have so far died of Covid-19 is an immediate point of inquiry.

We owe it to them and to their families to have a proper, truly independent and thorough investigation into how so many perished.

Among the main points the inquiry must address will be the number of deaths in care homes, where residents – instead of being protected – were terribly exposed for weeks to untested patients being transferred out of hospitals.

We owe it to the key workers who kept us safe, especially the families of those who died from Covid, to examine the decisions taken in Scotland on how their jobs and conditions were handled.

Could Scotland have gone into lockdown sooner and how much did hesitancy in Westminster influence Holyrood?

The outgoing tide of the pandemic exposed the deep gaps in elderly care, in adult and teenage mental health programmes and in the resilience of our education system and social services.

The UK Government and our dithering prime minister have their own questions to answer but Scottish ministers will have to give an honest assessment of how their decisions and initial considerations played out.

Public inquiries are, by their nature, slow and sober affairs.

Much of the anger, grief and political heat will have gone out of the debate by the time the experiences of families and the evidence of central figures and experts is heard.

But the lessons have to be learned thoroughly and quickly and not just because that’s the very least those who have suffered most during the last 18 months deserve.

The grim reality is that in an increasingly globalised world, other pandemics may come along with the potential to wreak just as much havoc as this one.

The Scottish Government inquiry must be comprehensive and unsparing in its assessment of what went wrong as well as identifying the successes in our approach.

And its recommendations must be followed to make sure we are better prepared to cope with future public health emergencies.