https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13647355/Covid-worse-lack-pandemic-preparation-scathing-inquiry-concludes.htmlCovid Inquiry: State failings led to mass death and suffering, damning report concludes Health Secretaries Hancock and Hunt did not prepare UK for 'catastrophic' pandemic that killed more than 230,000 Britons
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By Ryan Hooper For The Daily Mail
Published: 12:13, 18 July 2024 | Updated: 13:10, 18 July 2024
The UK Government's failure to prepare for a pandemic led to mass death, 'untold misery' and 'economic turmoil', the Covid-19 Inquiry has concluded. Baroness Heather Hallett, delivering her first scathing report into the outbreak that killed more than 230,000, called for 'radical reform' in order to safeguard against future pandemics and warned: 'It is not a question of "if" on will strike but "when".'
In the 217-page document, it is reported that the UK prepared for the 'wrong type' of pandemic an influenza-style virus, instead of those caused by other respiratory diseases, like Covid, which require a different approach. She also urged for the issue to be treated 'in much the same way as we treat a threat from a hostile state'.
The UK had 'significant flaws' going into the pandemic in early 2020, which resulted in schools, offices and shops closed, vast constraints on freedoms through lockdown measures, and untold damage to mental health. And there were more than 235,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK up to the end of 2023. She acknowledged preparing for a pandemic costs money, but warned: 'The massive financial, economic and human cost of the Covid 19 pandemic is proof that, in the area of preparedness and resilience, money spent on systems for our protection is vital and will be vastly outweighed by the cost of not doing so. Had the UK been better prepared for and more resilient to the pandemic, some of that financial and human cost may have been avoided.'
She said high pre-existing levels of heart disease, diabetes, respiratory illness and obesity, and general levels of ill-health and health inequalities mean that the UK was more vulnerable. But, addressing the state's preparedness, she added: 'There must be radical reform. Never again can a disease be allowed to lead to so many deaths and so much suffering.'
She said planning and guidance was 'insufficiently robust and flexible', that policy documentation was 'outdated, unnecessarily bureaucratic and infected by jargon', and that advice was 'often undermined by groupthink'. She also acknowledged the Government's preparedness and resilience was, 'quite evidently under constant strain' at the time the pandemic struck, given several Whitehall departments' preoccupation with leaving the European Union. The 240-page report said: 'The evidence suggests that there were, and remain, real limits on the state's capacity to cope with an increasing trend of multiple, complex civil emergencies happening at the same time.'
Baroness Hallett added: 'I have no hesitation in concluding that the processes, planning and policy of the civil contingency structures across the UK failed the citizens of all four nations. There were serious errors on the part of the state, and serious flaws in our civil emergency systems. This cannot be allowed to happen again. Unless the lessons are learned and fundamental change is implemented, the human and financial cost and sacrifice of the Covid-19 pandemic will have been in vain. The harrowing accounts of loss and grief given by the bereaved witnesses and others who suffered during the pandemic serve to remind us why there must be radical reform.'
She said the Government's sole pandemic strategy, from 2011, 'was outdated and lacked adaptability and was beset by major flaws, which were there for everyone to see'.
That strategy focused on only one type of pandemic, and, she said 'failed adequately to consider prevention or proportionality of response, and paid insufficient attention to the economic and social consequences of pandemic response'.
Consequently, she said, it was 'virtually abandoned on its first encounter with the pandemic' by then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock. The report identified how leaders failed to heed the lessons from Exercise Cygnus, a three-day training scenario involving nearly 1,000 Government officials to test the UK's response to a serious influenza pandemic. The exercise highlighted 'the lack of capability and capacity to surge resources in a number of key areas, including the NHS, social care and the management of excess deaths'.
However, no reference was made that the UK's pandemic plans, policies and response capabilities were not sufficient to cope with the extreme demands of a severe pandemic during a subsequent meeting to discuss Cygnus, involving then-Prime Minister Theresa May and members of the National Security Council. Baroness Hallett made a number of recommendations, including that a similar exercise is carried out every three years, publishing the outcome. She also suggested a 'radical simplification' of civil emergency preparedness and resilience systems. She said the Government 'could and should' have invested in the test and trace system, which was used to try and identify how the virus was spreading. Lockdown, one of the most divisive elements of the Covid 19 response, will be examined in further detail in a future report. But Baroness Hallett acknowledged it 'should be a measure of last resort'.
In a statement, the inquiry chairman said: 'My report recommends fundamental reform of the way in which the UK government and the devolved administrations prepare for whole-system civil emergencies. If the reforms I recommend are implemented, the nation will be more resilient and better able to avoid the terrible losses and costs to society that the Covid-19 pandemic brought. I expect all my recommendations to be acted on, with a timetable to be agreed with the respective administrations. I, and my team, will be monitoring this closely.'
Elkan Abrahamson, who represents the Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice group which has almost 7,000 members, said: 'We are delighted to see that Baroness Hallett has listened and taken on board most of our recommendations to prevent a disaster like the Covid pandemic ever happening again. However, it is extremely disappointing that the vulnerable were ignored in the recommendations and there were no proposals for dealing with racial inequality, health inequalities or the effects of austerity. We will be taking this up with the Government. We will be going back to the chair in the future to ask her to ensure that her crucial recommendations are carried out.'
This module of the inquiry held 23 days of public hearings held in central London during June and July last year. The probe is not expected to conclude its public hearings until 2026, and is expected to cost around £200 million.
