The evidence is in, and it is damning. The UK was ‘woefully unprepared’ for a pandemic following a decade of Government failures. 

The Government failed to prepare to prevent the spread of a pandemic, instead focusing on dealing with the effects of a catastrophic death toll. 

Even if the right plans had been in place, a decade of austerity measures meant that we were in no fit position to scale up public services when we needed them. 

These were not mistakes. A pandemic like Covid 19 was foreseeable and foreseen by the scientific advisory community. It was also entirely foreseen that any pandemic would have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities, and yet none of the UK’s pandemic plans addressed the role of inequalities in pandemics. 

In fact, health and social inequalities have deepened in the past decade. Not only were we under prepared for a pandemic, but in the decade leading up to Covid 19, our position was actively worsened. 

These failures go some of the way towards explaining why despite being one of the world’s wealthiest countries, we have suffered the 6th worst death rate in the world. 

Tragically, none of this comes as a surprise to those of us who have suffered the ultimate loss during the pandemic. But having these failures confirmed in the Public Inquiry means that we can get to work campaigning to make sure that urgent action is taken to prevent these mistakes from being repeated. 

The politicians responsible have claimed that ‘group think’ blinded them to the dire state of resilience and preparedness for a pandemic, but the Inquiry has shown us that they did know we were underprepared, and did nothing about it. 

We need your help to make sure that no politician can ever claim ignorance again. Please donate what you can to help us campaign to make sure that the lessons of the past are learned from, so that all of our families and communities are so much safer when the next crisis hits: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/covid-bereaved-must-be-heard-at-the-covid-inquiry

With thanks, 

Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK