The Scottish Covid Inquiry continues to draw attention as it aims to investigate the nation's response to the pandemic, with the latest hearings focusing on the impact on education. Launched last year, the inquiry has so far examined the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis on health and social care services, and the upcoming sessions will explore the educational ramifications across various levels.
The purpose of the inquiry is clear: to ascertain the facts behind Scotland's handling of the pandemic and glean lessons for future preparedness. Chaired by Lord Brailsford and commissioned by Scottish ministers, the inquiry delves deep, targeting 12 specific facets of the response to Covid-19 under three broad themes: health and social care, education and young people, and finance, business, and welfare.
Among the myriad of issues under scrutiny are pandemic planning protocols, the supply chains of personal protective equipment (PPE), and the guidelines surrounding school closures and lockdown measures. Once everything is said and done, the inquiry won’t be attributing guilt or innocence but will instead compile recommendations aimed at enhancing future strategies, which the Scottish government is expected to implement.
While the Scottish inquiry commenced relatively recently, its operations differ from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, which began hearings much earlier. The UK inquiry has cast its net wider, addressing the pandemic's effects and the UK government’s decisions across the entire nation. By comparison, the Scottish inquiry is zoomed-in on the aspects managed by the Scottish government.
For example, the UK inquiry thoroughly investigates vaccination strategies at the national level, whereas the Scottish inquiry focuses on how these decisions were executed within Scotland after being made at the UK level. Interestingly, the approach taken by each inquiry varies significantly. The UK inquiry probes political decision-making from the get-go, whereas the Scottish inquiry emphasizes voices directly affected by the pandemic, such as bereaved families and healthcare workers, before moving on to the policymakers.
This method means the Scottish inquiry will take its time, likely extending its work for at least two more years before drawing final conclusions and recommendations. For now, evidence collection remains the primary focus, allowing the investigation to harvest the stories of those most impacted by the crisis.
So far, the Scottish inquiry has held sessions featuring emotional testimonies from individuals within the health and social care sectors. These accounts paint harrowing pictures of the effects of the pandemic, including poignant narratives from bereaved families. One such testimony came from Gillian Grant, who described how her grandmother was placed under a “do not resuscitate” order at her care home, which contradicted the family's wishes. Similarly heartbreaking was the account of Caroleanne Stewart, whose brother struggled with Covid symptoms, with paramedics arriving yet remaining inside their ambulance, declining to provide immediate help.
Another sobering topic revolved around inadequate PPE supplies during the pandemic's shockwave. Witnesses detailed how some General Practitioners had to improvise, donning repurposed bin bags as makeshift aprons due to PPE shortages. Such stark realities were mirrored by groups representing care home residents, who likened their loved ones' circumstances during lockdown to being “exhibits in a reptile house,” symbolically illustrating the isolation and neglect they felt.
Besides the public hearings, the inquiry; through the “Let's Be Heard” initiative, has engaged more than 10,000 individuals across Scotland. This project is committed to amplifying the voices of those who wish to share their experiences during the pandemic. The initial interim findings reveal significant upheaval, focusing on how lockdown measures adversely impacted people’s lives.
The inquiry's latest hearings are particularly significant as they turn to the impact of the pandemic on education, covering early childhood education through to tertiary institutions. The sessions will consult with experts and frontline educational workers who will shed light on various issues, including the digital divide affecting home schooling, the disruptions caused by exams and qualifications, and the broader ramifications of social isolation on young people's mental health.
One focus area will be determining how lockdowns affected children’s social skills and emotional development early on. The inquiry also aims to address the reopening of colleges and universities and examine the financial and educational consequences imposed by lockdowns on students.
To encourage contributions from younger individuals, the inquiry has opted against allowing them to testify directly at hearings, choosing instead to issue surveys targeting teachers, childcare professionals, and kids aged eight years and older to gather insights on their lived experiences.
Following the education hearings, the inquiry will pivot to assessing the pandemic's impacts on businesses and welfare, concluding this segment around December 20. A later series of hearings, set between February and June of next year, will tackle various other ramifications of the pandemic not yet addressed.
The inquiry's findings may also intersect with broader discussions occurring within the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, highlighting systemic issues shared across the constituent nations. Participants from the UK's inquiry have already emphasized areas where the governments—both UK and Scotland—”failed their citizens” due to inadequate planning and response strategies amid the health crisis.
For Scotland, the emphasis moving forward remains on accountability and application of learned lessons to safeguard public health outcomes. With evidence collection still underway, the country seems poised to reevaluate its pandemic response mechanism comprehensively.
Individuals such as Siân Matthewson, working as infection prevention and control nurses, await the inquiries to pave the way for future preparedness enhancements. Speaking about her experiences during the pandemic, she reflected on how health services were caught off-guard by the scale of Covid-19’s impact. Matthewson expressed hopes for stronger legislation to demand higher levels of preparedness and investments aimed at improving NHS infrastructure to cope with future health crises.
Challenges faced by health workers during the pandemic, as highlighted by Matthewson, paint a troubling picture of inconsistent PPE supply, unclear government guidance, and inefficiencies within the healthcare structure itself which left many frontline staff vulnerable. She argued for making changes based on insights gained from the inquiry to guarantee hospitals can effectively prevent infections moving forward.
The collective efforts of the Scottish Covid Inquiry present not just narratives of hardship and loss, but also opportunities for transformation and advancement within the nation's public health framework. With each witness who shares their story, the inquiry inches closer to grasping the full scope of Covid-19’s impact on Scotland, hoping to emerge with comprehensive recommendations to fortify public health infrastructure for the future.