Covid widow calls government 'disgusting' as first Covid Inquiry report is published
By Laurence Griffin, Production Journalist
The widow of a paramedic from Nottinghamshire who died during Covid is among those who have reacted to a public inquiry report, which found the government "failed its citizens" by being ill-prepared for Covid.
Julie Goodwin from Bilsthorpe in Nottinghamshire lost her husband to Covid.
Charlie Goodwin was on the front line of the fight against the pandemic working as a paramedic, and died in April 2020 - just weeks after the country went into lockdown.
Baroness Hallet, chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry's first report, has today urged the Labour government to implement urgent and "fundamental reform" and warned another pandemic is likely in the near to medium future.
"He could've been saved if things had been done right"
Julie said: "I don't think [the government] were prepared at all. They locked down too late and opened up too soon.
"If they had the right equipment and enough equipment there would have been a lot of lives saved."
"My husband was on the front line but he thought he was safe in that PPE - they brought it in eventually but it was just a plastic apron and gloves and an everyday mask.
"It's disgusting - he could have been saved if things had been done right."
Birmingham GP Dr Anita Raja gave birth in the midst of the pandemic in 2020 and said a lack of PPE left her and her youngest son "highly vulnerable."
She said: "We were still doing nursing visits, we were doing home visits of really unwell vulnerable people without PPE.
"I didn't have PPE for a whole month, in fact we didn't even know what PPE what it was during that time, GP's surgeries didn't stock any masks and it was really new."
Lady Hallet said: "It is not a question of 'if' another pandemic will strike but 'when'" as she called on the government to be equally as prepared for another health crisis as it would be for a potential war.
Her report concluded "the processes, planning and policy of the civil contingency structures within the UK government and devolved administrations and civil services failed their citizens."
Among her criticisms were:
The poor state of the nation’s health going into the pandemic, in which high levels of heart disease, diabetes, respiratory illness and obesity and general levels of ill-health made the UK more vulnerable
Public services, including the NHS, running at and beyond capacity, which looks like implied criticism of the Conservative government’s austerity programme, although Lady Hallett does not use that word
The UK prepared for "the wrong pandemic", namely an influenza pandemic, with an outdated strategy from 2011 that lacked adaptability
That ministers, who themselves were untrained, were not presented with a broad enough range of scientific and policy options
That scientific advisers were guilty of ‘groupthink’ and that the committees advising the government - including Sage - were not subject to sufficient challenge by ministers
"I can't thank the government at that time enough for what they did for us."
Despite that report, Sarah Jones, who runs Cedars Care Home in Stourbridge, said she received "fantastic support" from the government, which she believes did all it could in the circumstances.
She said: "I know I've heard other stories but we were given unlimited supplies of PPE, we were given grants and they would pay for agency staff if we couldn't get staff in so I can't thank the government at that time enough for what they did for us."
Answering Lady Hallet's call for preparation, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the Government will "carefully consider the recommendations" of the inquiry.
He said "The Government’s first responsibility is to keep the public safe, and as Prime Minister I am personally committed to each and every family that lost loved ones, and whose lives were changed forever, that this Government will learn the lessons from the Inquiry"