Stoke-on-Trent widow says COVID inquiry must hold people accountable

Failures to properly prepare for a pandemic in the UK are expected to be laid bare 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.

Lynn Jones from Stoke-on-Trent lost her husband Gareth in March 2021. She and her family weren't able to visit him for the last six weeks of his life, until he passed away from coronavirus at Royal Stoke.

"You can never ever get over it. The circumstances of the pandemic are always with us." Lynn told us.

"The fact that poor Gareth was on his own for six weeks and we couldn't visit him. How awful must that have been for him. Seeing what happened first hand was so bad, the health service was totally unprepared.

"Those people working could not deal with this challenge, they'd been neglected, services had been neglected for 10 years and they were expected to deal with this pandemic. And my husband was caught up in all of that. "

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.

Mr Hunt admitted being part of "groupthink" when he was health secretary, leading to a "narrowness of thinking" that failed to expand UK pandemic preparedness beyond planning for a flu outbreak.

And Mr Hancock said it was a "colossal" failure to assume the spread of the virus could not be stopped.

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".

Meanwhile, Mr Gove argued that planning for a no-deal Brexit made the UK "more match fit" for dealing with the pandemic. He denied that moving staff over to Brexit work had a detrimental effect on pandemic planning when he appeared before the inquiry in July last year.

Lynn added: "I'm horrified that those in power have admitted to all these terrible things. They didn't have a plan. They didn't lock the borders down. In hindsight they'd have done something differently. All these things they've admitted - and they have to be held accountable.

"If you can just make decisions that just in the end lead to the loss of life, and nothing happens to you, then people will never take being a public servant seriously.

"All this inquiry is about for us - is learning lessons. And I think that's one of the biggest lessons."

There were more than 235,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK up to the end of 2023.

Brenda Doherty, on behalf of Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said in a statement: "The publication of the module one report marks a huge milestone for bereaved families like mine.

"We know that for lives to be saved in the future, lessons must be learnt from the mistakes of the past.

"Sadly, nobody knows the true cost of the government's failure to prepare as we do.

"From campaigning to bring about an inquiry, to hearing revelation after revelation regarding the ways in which our loved ones were failed, the years leading up to today have been draining. We know, however, that the inquiry's recommendations have the potential to save lives in the future, if lessons have been learned from the loss of our loved ones."

The first module of the public inquiry examined "if the pandemic was properly planned for and whether the UK was adequately ready for that eventuality".

As well as highlighting blunders made in the run-up to the pandemic, Lady Hallett is expected to make recommendations about how the UK can better prepare itself for a future outbreak.

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.

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.

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