The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Grieving son wants answers over Covid
Aman whose mother died after contracting coronavirus at a Fife care home hopes key questions will be answered during a full public inquiry into the pandemic in Scotland.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed plans for the judge-led inquiry – saying she believes it is appropriate to start the process “as soon as possible”.
Speaking at a briefing to discuss rising Covid-19 case numbers, Ms Sturgeon said it would take a “personcentred, human rightsbased approach”, and would look into all the areas that were the responsibility of the Scottish Government, including what happened in care homes.
The announcement came after Deputy First Minister John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery, met representatives of the Scottish branch of the campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK.
Alan Wightman, whose 88-year-old mother Helen died after catching the virus in Scoonie House in Leven, is the Scottish spokesman for the group.
He told The Courier: “I’m pleased that it’s been announced.
“I think the families are absolutely delighted that it’s happening, and the way in which they’ve been considered and treated since our meeting with the first minister in March, it’s really been good.
“There were times when we were frustrated, when we didn’t think anything was happening, but things were going on behind the scenes that led to the announcement today.
“We’ll have another meeting with John Swinney in about four weeks’ time, but in the interim, we’ll be working with government officials to set the terms of reference for the scope of the inquiry. We’ve got everything we wanted.
“We’ve asked as well for some input into who the judge will be. We’ve got to have confidence in this inquiry, so we were told, ‘yes, that will be considered as well’. It’s very, very positive.”
Mr Wightman said a separate Scottish inquiry is the best approach given health is devolved in the UK.
“We want an honest opening of the books. What documents exist?” he said.
“Could the decisions have been made better, with the information that was known at the time?
“I’m not talking here about hindsight. I think what we’ll maybe be looking at, ‘you made a decision at the time, you maybe had three different alternative ones, you could have made, why did you pick this one instead of the others?’
“It’s not about blame, it’s about understanding what went wrong, so we can improve things.
“Everyone’s agreed that there will be other pandemics in the future.
“We were caught unprepared for this. We did have these exercises, we made plans – we just didn’t implement them.
“And that’s the very tragic thing that’s happened.”
Aamer Anwar, the solicitor acting on behalf of the group, said: “Today is the first important step in establishing accountability for 10,421 lives lost to Covid-19 in Scotland.”
Mr Swinney said he aims for the inquiry to get under way before the end of 2021.
“I think the families in the group are absolutely delighted that it’s happening