Covid research report proves no lessons learned | Letters

I attended the launch of Lady Hallett’s Covid-19 inquiry report and left the viewing room with my emotions all over the place (UK in ‘worse shape’ to deal with pandemic than pre-Covid, experts say, 19 July). I thought of my dead colleague, dead patients and a dead friend. But I also remembered our first informal meeting in the NHS, when the possibility of another pandemic was briefly and casually discussed. That was in October 1999. Labour were in power and our focus was on innovation and modernisation across the NHS. I was a passionate enthusiast for all these new policies – a merry foot soldier for change. Sound familiar?

My contribution as a senior NHS change leader between 2002 and 2005 was to help build a new learning system or infrastructure, including a health observatory that was able to do horizon scanning for threats to the NHS and, by default, to the public. This innovation was part of the new NHS University, which was designed to provide an integrated learning system for the whole of the health sector. The two areas of focus were pandemics and climate change.

We learned from HIV/Aids work in South Africa that we must “learn faster than a virus” to have any chance of overcoming the impact of new viruses. How did many of our health service colleagues respond to this? It was seen as a “nice to have” in official terms. Our attempt to speak truth to power resulted in the collapse of these organisations and many of us with them.

In the report, Lady Hallett says that warnings were not heeded and that learning was not integrated into the NHS culture. This sounds familiar, as previous Kennedy Report in the Bristol Royal Infirmary scandal came to similar conclusions. Everything changes and everything stays the same.
Edward Rosen
Former head of education, NHS University, 2002-05

In Prof Devi Sridhar’s response to the initial Covid-19 inquiry report, systemic racism is not identified as a contributing factor to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on some ethnic minority communities (The Covid inquiry report makes clear: Britain was completely and fatally unprepared, 18 July). While lack of preparation and underlying health inequalities have contributed to Britain’s poor performance, they do not fully explain the disproportionate impact on people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

During the pandemic, The Guardian was at the forefront of reporting that doctors and nurses from these communities were more likely to die from Covid-19. Our work showed that the nature of the work (in public, key work roles) and living conditions (in urban, crowded areas) of people from these communities increased their risk of infection and death.

By avoiding the need to address systemic racism, the inquiry’s recommendations risk repeating the mistakes made during the pandemic. It is hoped that the new administration will take these issues seriously and work to address racial inequality.
Jabeer ass
CEO, Race Equality Foundation

There is no great difficulty in knowing what actions to take to prevent another pandemic – just copy what is generally done with Ebola. Isolate the first patient of any disease and all his/her contacts. Test them and close the borders until they are safe.
Edward Lyon
Sandown, Isle of Wight