PRESS RELEASE – UK COVID INQUIRY CONCLUDES MODULE 1 – AS SCOTTISH COVID BEREAVED GIVE EVIDENCE
PRESS RELEASE – 18th July 2023
‘SCOTTISH COVID BEREAVED’ Jane Morrison one of the four nation’s final witnesses gave evidence today to conclude Module 1 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, followed by our legal submissions on behalf of the Scottish Covid Bereaved
Statement by lead solicitor Aamer Anwar on behalf of the Scottish Covid Bereaved, following our legal submissions at the end of this stage of the Inquiry this afternoon.
“Over the last six weeks of evidence this Inquiry has heard that the UK was not prepared: that its capacity to cope with Covid was diminished by years of underfunding, austerity cuts, and the impact of Brexit. According to the National Records of Scotland, as of 4th June 2023, there were 17,646 deaths in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. The hardship and suffering imposed by the pandemic was not equally spread, for the families we represent in Scotland it was a horrific and traumatic experience.
The fundamental human right, of every person, is to the enjoyment of the highest standard of health without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition. Covid was not an “equal opportunities virus”.
The National Security Council Threats, Hazards and Contingencies Committee was set up to scan the horizon and act as an early warning system. this was done whilst the National Health Service was being brought to its knees with chronic underfunding. This was the equivalent of spending money on a tsunami warning system whilst at the same time allowing the sea-wall defences to crumble.
We have heard that the pleas of those involved in healthcare remained unanswered by the time covid reached our shores. Our politicians left the NHS in such a desperate crisis, that they were barely able to deal with a winter flu, let alone a pandemic.
Ultimately, we had the science and expertise but a decade of austerity, the focus on planning for a no deal Brexit, chaotic administration, lack of communication, chronic underfunding of the very services we rely on to protect us, meant that we were, in no way, prepared for the pandemic which arrived on our shores.
Having listened to the evidence over the past 6 weeks, we invited the Chair to conclude that the UK and Scottish Governments failed in their obligations to protect the health of the those within it, by failing to prepare for what they knew was an inevitable pandemic.”
End of Statement
The statement of Jane Morrison, member of Scottish Covid Bereaved
Jane who lost her wife to Covid, was one of the four nation witnesses to bring this first session of evidence to a conclusion.
“For those who have offered their condolences with genuine sincerity, thank you. More importantly, to all those individuals from the ranks of all key workers out there who took that extra, often small, compassionate step you may not even be aware of the difference it made and the impact it had, a moment of kindness in a dark world, so to all of you, thank you.
My wife Jacky died in October 2020 due to nosocomial Covid. She was 49 and we had been together for twenty years. She had been in for two weeks and caught Covid on the 15th day.
Due to the irreparable damage done by the virus she was not a candidate for ICU and intubation, and we were both told she was dying and there was nothing they could do.
Although I was fortunate to be with her at the end it haunts me that I could not be with her when she was told she was dying. As I said I was fortunate because, unlike so many, I was able to be with her at the end. The hospital waited until I arrived, as it is over an hour’s drive to get there, and then removed all the tubes, wires and monitors etc and we were given a side room to be in. She died 15 minutes later. When I got home, I had to go into immediate isolation for 14 days.
Once the UK Public Inquiry was becoming a reality and it’s intended scope revealed we had a disagreement with those running Covid Bereaved Families for Justice on a number of issues but especially legal representation. We Scots did not think it was in our best interests to use one firm of lawyers for devolved issues in the UK Inquiry and then another firm to represent us for retained issues which was their proposed model.
We had already instructed Aamer Anwar and Co for the Scottish Inquiry and to us it seemed eminently sensible to follow our preferred route and use our Scottish legal team for everything. We were very conscious that it was important to our group to have continuity between the UK inquiry, for both devolved and retained matters, and the Scottish Inquiry to avoid anything falling between the cracks and getting missed and to reduce duplication. We needed a team who knew how things worked in Scotland.
We therefore left Covid Bereaved Families for Justice and became a completely separate autonomous group under the name Scottish Covid Bereaved. As did the Welsh group. It was after this that CBFFJ added UK to their group name.
As a group we represent relatives of those bereaved in Scotland. We have the common goal of wanting answers as to what went wrong both in Scotland and in the UK so we can understand how the systems failed to protect our loved ones. We want their deaths not to have been in vain and for lessons to be learnt to stop other people having to go through what we have had to endure.
After a couple of months and feeling quite isolated I subsequently joined the only Facebook group I could readily find for those bereaved by covid, namely Covid Bereaved Families For Justice, just as a place to be in touch with others who understood what bereavement during a pandemic is like.
It was quite clear that CBFFJ was focused on Westminster and very England- centric with little understanding of how things worked in Scotland.
In my view it does not matter whether the plans in place are the best in the world. If the political comprehension of the coming storm is lacking either through arrogance or incompetence and the response to it is clouded by scepticism of the seriousness of the situation by those in charge then you will always have needless deaths.
There were many times during the pandemic when it appeared as if there was a culture of contempt for the ordinary people, as illustrated for example by the so called Partygate events. Hubris does not stop a pandemic and it needs all of those involved in pandemic planning, and the implementation of those plans, to be big enough to admit their failings and to get it right for the next one.”
Jane’s evidence began at around 10.30am, and was followed by legal submissions in the afternoon by our senior Counsel Dr Claire Mitchell KC.
