North Yorkshire families want answers from first report from COVID inquiry
It is due to be published later on today
Last updated 18th Jul 2024
Failures to properly prepare for a pandemic in the UK are expected to be laid bare later as the UK Covid-19 Inquiry publishes its first report.
Inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett will report on how well the UK was able to face a deadly outbreak in the run up to 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic swept across Britain.
The report is expected to highlight the UK's focus on preparing for a flu pandemic instead of a coronavirus pandemic.
Lady Hallett may highlight how austerity measures led to public health cut backs.
She could potentially also comment on preparations surrounding personal protective equipment (PPE) and a government focused on Brexit.
Key politicians, scientists and health experts appeared as witnesses during the first module of the inquiry - which is titled Resilience and Preparedness.
Former health secretaries Matt Hancock and Jeremy Hunt were put under the spotlight during oral evidence sessions, alongside former prime minister Lord Cameron and former levelling up secretary Michael Gove.
Lord Cameron conceded it was a "mistake" for his government to focus too heavily on preparations for combating a wave of influenza rather than a coronavirus-like pandemic.
But he defended the programme of austerity cuts to public services under his leadership between 2010 and 2016, which medics and unions have blamed for leaving the NHS in a "parlous state".
Mary Bardwell is from York - her daughter Pixie has long COVID and says it's heart-breaking to think she wasn't properly protected: "Well I don't think they were prepared, but maybe they were, but they didn't want to listen to how serious it was going to be, they said children weren't going to be effected in the very beginning which now we can see now wasn't true. They should have closed the schools a lot quicker, took a lot more precautions, a lot more things."
"Us as a family we've had to stop doing things that we did, like pre COVID. I've had to get a new small part time job, because Pixie is at home all the time, with the endless appointments where we don't seem to get anywhere."
Academics have said it is a question of "when not if" another pandemic will hit, so it is hoped that recommendations, if implemented, could put the UK in a better starting place to face a new and unknown disease - known by many as Disease X.
"The fight against pandemics is like counter-terrorism"
One leading expert said that officials should adopt counter terrorism-like approaches to prepare for future pandemic threats.
Professor Liam Smeeth, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), told the PA news agency: "The key lesson from the first UK Covid Inquiry report is that if the UK waits for the next pandemic to emerge, it will be too late.
"The fight against pandemics is like counter-terrorism, we must use similar approaches such as gathering and sharing the best intelligence on global disease threats and joining forces to confront outbreaks before they become pandemics.
"Like terrorists, lethal viruses take no notice of national borders and can strike anywhere at any time.
"We have to work with global partners to combat this global threat: this means not just improving our planning, surveillance, and ability to respond in the UK, but supporting those on the front line fighting outbreaks around the world."
Professor Smeeth said that a pandemic treaty with other countries was "essential", adding: "We should find ways to collectively defend our whole planet and commit to sharing data, know-how and resources - such as surveillance tools, protective equipment and vaccines - on a global scale while we can.
"We don't know what the next dangerous outbreak will be, what we do know is that it's going to happen. We need to seize the moment to agree new ways of working, and deeper collaboration so that we are better prepared for the next global disease threat when it arrives."
Former prime minister Boris Johnson did not give oral evidence during the first module. He first appeared as a witness in the second module of the inquiry, which is examining UK decision making and political governance.