TUC – Covid Inquiry Report is a “moment of truth for the country” as report confirms impact of austerity on UK preparedness and resilience
- Report confirms that public services were under huge strain even before Covid struck
- Baroness Hallett says public health, NHS and social care sector’s capacity to respond to pandemic was “constrained” by funding and negatively impacted by “severe staff shortages” and infrastructure “not fit for purpose”
- Report warns that not investing “in systems of protection” will impact on the UK’s “preparedness and resilience” in a future pandemic
Responding to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry Module 1 report today (Thursday), TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:
“This is a moment of truth and reflection for the country.
“Baroness Hallett’s report confirms that austerity left the UK underprepared for the pandemic.
“Faced with the biggest crisis since the Second World War our defences were down as a result of severe spending cuts.
“We owe it to those who lost their lives – and to those workers who put their lives at risk – to make sure this never happens again.
“Strong public services – and a properly supported workforce – are vital for the nation’s health. As Baroness Hallett rightly points out the cost of investing in ‘systems for our protection’ is ‘vastly outweighed’ by the cost of not doing so.”
Commenting on the report’s finding that inequality put certain communities at disproportionate risk during the pandemic, Paul added:
“This report lays bare how inequality fuelled the spread of Covid-19.
“Low-income, disabled and BME people were far more likely to be infected and die from the virus.
“As Baroness Hallett warns inequality is a huge risk to the whole of the UK.”
Impact of austerity
Baroness Hallett writes on page 2 of her report:
‘Public services, particularly health and social care, were running close to, if not beyond, capacity in normal times.
[…] 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.’
Baroness Hallett writes on page 122 of her report:
‘The Inquiry also heard that there were severe staff shortages and that a significant amount of the hospital infrastructure was not fit for purpose. England’s social care sector faced similar issues. This combination of factors had a directly negative impact on infection control measures and on the ability of the NHS and the care sector to ‘surge up’ during a pandemic.’
Baroness Hallett writes on page 123 of her report:
‘Issues of funding are political decisions that properly fall to elected politicians. However, it remains the case that the surge capacity of the four nations’ public health and healthcare systems to respond to the pandemic was constrained by their funding.’
Baroness Hallett writes on page 127 of her report:
‘Some witnesses to the Inquiry described the prioritisation and reprioritisation of limited resources as a cause of inaction. This is a widely recurring theme in the evidence.’
Impact of inequality
Baroness Hallett writes on page 70 of her report:
‘Resilience depends on having a resilient population. The existence and persistence of vulnerability in the population is a long-term risk to the UK.’
‘[…] as the UK entered the Covid-19 pandemic, there were “substantial systematic health inequalities by socio-economic status, ethnicity, area-level deprivation, region, social excluded minority groups and inclusion health groups.”’
Baroness Hallett writes on page 71 of her report:
‘Covid-19 was not an ‘equality opportunity virus’. It resulted in a higher a likelihood of sickness and death for people who are most vulnerable in society. It was the views of Professors Bambra and Marmot that:
“In short, the UK entered the pandemic with its public services depleted, health improvement stalled, health inequalities increased and health among the poorest people in a state of decline.”’
