COVID inquiry: Matt Hancock says UK method to pandemic planning was ‘fully flawed’

Matt Hancock has criticised the UK’s method to planning for pandemics as “completely wrong”.

The former well being secretary informed the coronavirus inquiry: “The perspective, the doctrine of the UK was to plan for the results of a catastrophe.

“Can we buy enough body bags? Where are we going to bury the dead?

“And that was fully flawed. Of course, it is essential to have that in case you fail to cease a pandemic, however central to pandemic planning must be – how do you cease the catastrophe from taking place within the first place? How do you suppress the virus?”

COVID inquiry newest: How Matt Hancock’s proof unfolded

Mr Hancock mentioned he’s “profoundly sorry” for each loss of life brought on by COVID-19 and blamed “doctrine” for believing the UK had issues underneath management.

He mentioned doctrinal failures had “consequences” in areas comparable to “stockpiles, testing, antivirals, contact tracing, and much more widely” when the pandemic struck in 2020.

He added that having pandemic plans specializing in flu was not the central flaw.

“For instance, large-scale testing did not exist and large-scale contact tracing did not exist because it was assumed that as soon as there was community transmission, it wouldn’t be possible to stop the spread, and therefore, what’s the point in contact tracing?” he mentioned.

“That was completely wrong.”

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Systems to cease subsequent pandemic ‘being dismantled as we communicate’

Mr Hancock additionally mentioned he was involved the methods to cease the subsequent pandemic are “being dismantled as we speak”.

Speaking in regards to the lack of correct preparedness, he mentioned: “I am profoundly sorry for the impact that it had, I’m profoundly sorry for each death that has occurred.”

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He added: “And all I can do is ensure that this inquiry gets to the bottom of it, and that for the future, we learn the right lessons, so that we stop a pandemic in its tracks much, much earlier.

“And that now we have the methods in place prepared to try this, as a result of I’m fearful that they are being dismantled as we communicate.”

Analysis

Matt Hancock’s line of defence, one he repeated again and again throughout a generally tetchy change with Hugo Keith KC, was that he inherited a well being system that might not be capable of address a non-influenza pandemic.

The former well being secretary informed the COVID inquiry he got here to the conclusion “doctrinal” points prevented the nation’s preparedness.

Instead the system was geared in the direction of coping with “mass casualties” and the results of a worldwide well being emergency.

The inquiry’s lead counsel requested repeatedly why he, as secretary of state, did nothing to deal with this apparent failure. There was no straight reply from Mr Hancock.

And this was a recurring theme all through his three hours on the witness stand.

Mr Hancock mentioned he noticed potential issues however couldn’t do something to vary “a flawed system”. This refusal to simply accept any duty was maybe most evident when addressing grownup social care.

The choice to maneuver untested aged sufferers from hospitals into care properties had catastrophic penalties. It is among the single largest scandals of the pandemic. But Mr Hancock mentioned regardless of having the sector’s identify in his job title he had no energy over grownup social care because it got here underneath the jurisdiction of native authorities.

Again, the identical defence: flawed methods that hampered his pandemic efforts.
The inquiry was warned proper in the beginning of this morning’s session Mr Hancock’s proof could be restricted to the years earlier than the precise pandemic as this Module 1 offers completely with preparedness and resilience.

But Mr Hancock clearly needed everybody to know that regardless of taking over a system that was not prepared, amongst different issues, to scale-up mass testing and vaccine roll out, it was due to his private interventions that vital features had been made to fight the unfold of the virus. He mentioned he went towards WHO recommendation to impose the primary quarantines on worldwide travellers who may need been uncovered to the virus.

This won’t sit properly with the bereaved households who sat in the identical room listening to his proof. And Mr Hancock is aware of this. He mentioned he was “profoundly sorry for each death” however admitted he additionally understood “why this apology would be hard to take from someone like him”.

By taking no duty and regularly blaming a system for which he was singularly accountable as well being secretary, Mr Hancock has achieved nothing to make his apologies to bereaved households any simpler to simply accept.

UK system ‘geared in the direction of learn how to clear up after a catastrophe, not forestall it’

Under questioning from Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, Mr Hancock listed the problems the UK confronted with PPE (private protecting tools), checks, antivirals and vaccine preparedness.

The MP mentioned he was informed the UK was one of many best-placed nations on this planet at responding to a pandemic – which “turned out to be wrong”.

He informed the inquiry the system was “geared towards how to clear up after a disaster, not prevent it” and that “flaw, that failure, went back years and years and was embedded in the entire system response”.

Mr Hancock grew to become one of the recognised politicians within the nation as he labored to steer the UK’s coronavirus response earlier than he was pressured to stop in June 2021 after footage emerged of him embracing his aide Gina Coladangelo whereas social distancing pointers had been nonetheless in place.

Mr Hancock gave proof a day after the pinnacle of the UK’s Health Security Agency mentioned austerity measures left public well being companies “denuded”.

Content Source: information.sky.com