‘Questions on handling of Covid need answers’
THE abiding memory I have of the years I spent as Shadow Transport Minister is the resolve of the victims of various shipping disasters whose loved ones had tragically died in untoward circumstances.
Whether it was the survivors of the Marchioness which set off with its deck of happy partygoers or the family and friends of crew and passengers of the ill fated rollon-roll-off ferry Herald of Free Enterprise, the response never wavered.
Those who were left behind were compelled to leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of the facts and determined to make sure others should not suffer in the same way. ‘Never again’ was what motivated them.
Which is why I have every sympathy with those 450 people who lost loved ones and formed a Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Group last summer. Their numbers have now swelled to 2,800. Irrespective of their own grief, they speak with one voice.
They want a statutory public inquiry into the preparedness and handling of the pandemic in order to learn the lessons to ensure that other lives are protected in the future. They argue that the longer this is delayed, the greater the risk to others.
Now that the pandemic casualties have reached 126,000 and counting, it is difficult to understand why the Government is resisting. It’s not as if there isn’t a route map out of lockdown.
What’s more the vaccine roll out is already well advanced, so why wouldn’t the Government want to take steps to satisfy itself and UK citizens that everything will now be done to learn lessons for the future? Health professionals
and scientists alike are pressing for an understanding of the circumstances in which all aspects of the pandemic played out. They believe now is the time to delve deeper.
How else will we make sense of the high number of deaths in care homes, shortfall of intensive care beds, lack of appropriate personal protection for workers in the early months of the pandemic, concerns about procurement procedure, tensions between local and national track and trace services, decisions about when to apply and lift lockdown?
In its recent report the highly respected Resolution Foundation, chaired by former Conservative minister Lord Willetts, is suggesting the winter lockdown delay, despite evidence of fast rising cases before Christmas, caused up to 27,000 extra deaths in England. Here at the UHNM hospital, the CEO Tracy Bullock has revealed how close they came in February to not being able to cope.
One of my main questions is what weight the Cabinet gave to the UK’S Pandemic Preparedness strategy, which had seen us ranked at the top of worldwide preparedness ratings. We had the plans but don’t yet know why they didn’t work.
“We need to know the measures that need to be put in place to protect against fresh pandemics which could be worse than this one.
This month’s Integrated Review of Security, Defence Development and Foreign Policy prioritises bio security, warning of pandemic outbreaks linked to intense agriculture and loss of habitat. All the more reason not to push lessons of this pandemic into the long grass.
Having wanted the public inquiry under way last summer, the grieving Bereaved Families have waited patiently.
Now, though, with no start date for a public inquiry in sight, they feel they may have to contemplate court action.
Such proceedings would be costly, time-consuming, divisive and harrowing. Far better for the Government to set out a timetable for objective scrutiny followed by appropriate follow up action which only a public inquiry can deliver.
A crucial part of the inquiry will be to determine how much covid thrived on the inequalities and social deprivation of our society. The challenge for the Government will be to reverse 10 years of austerity policies which have left us so exposed.
Like it or not, all these questions will not go away anytime soon. Health and economy go together and both need to be underpinned by a sound evidence base.
Meanwhile we can all take solace from last Wednesday’s combined efforts of the city of Stoke-on-trent, and charities Assist and Marie Curie working with the Beth Johnson Foundation to mark the first UK lockdown as part of the national day of reflection. It is right that we unite, reflect and remember residents, front line workers volunteers and all loved ones who sadly died during the first year of the Covid -19 pandemic.