has heard evidence from David Cameron and senior civil servants in the Department of Health on its fifth day of Lady Hallett’s investigation into the UK’s preparedness for a pandemic. Here are eight things we learned:
A letter from chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty to Sir Christopher in March 2019 revealed that 18 areas of work on pandemic planning were paused, reduced or stopped altogether because government resources were diverted to focus on planning for aThese included a “strategy refresh” on UK pandemic influenza plans that had not been updated since 2011, preparing for a healthcare surge, work on adult social care, clinical trials for vaccines and another exercise to rehearse response for an...
He said reducing the debt had actually left the UK in a better position to deal with a pandemic. Mr Cameron admitted that “money was tight” but added: “Our economic strategy was about safeguarding and strengthening the economy and the nation’s finances so we could cope with whatever crisis hits us next.
In a sideswipe at Mr Hunt – who is now Chancellor – Mr Cameron said the former health secretary’s written statement had mentioned that hospitals in Hong Kong had to have three months of PPE supplies. He added: “I’ve tried to be as frank as I can and as open as I can about the things my government did that helped put in place the right architecture for looking at these threats, the horizon scanning, the units we put in place, the exercises that were undertaken, but I’ve also tried to be frank about, you know, the things that were missed.