Health care workers transport a patient at the Royal London Hospital
(Picture: REUTERS)Covid-19 has laid bare decades-long weaknesses in government including the neglect on adult social care services, a parliamentary watchdog has found.
The study, published on Wednesday by the National Audit Office, takes into consideration the findings from more than a dozen other sector-specific reports into the handling of the pandemic.
In its own report, NAO said the virus had exposed “existing fault lines within society, such as the risk of widening inequalities, and within public service delivery and government itself.”
It also found that the government had lacked a “playbook” for its response to the virus including its handling of schools and education.
Issues predating the pandemic made responding to the crisis more difficult in some areas, the NAO said, adding that national bodies initially provided more PPE support to hospitals than to social care.
NHS trusts received 80 per cent of their estimated PPE requirement through national schemes between March 20, 2020, and July 31, 2020, whereas social care providers received 10 per cent of their estimated requirement, it found.
Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, said that coronavirus had “stress-tested the government’s ability to deal with unforeseen events”, noting that it had shown the need for government to be “systematic” in planning for emergencies, and to learn lessons at speed.
The report came as Boris Johnson faced renewed questioning over the roadmap to easing lockdown.
One cabinet source told the Guardian they expected the government to throw “the kitchen sink” at hotspot areas to try to stem the spread of the new Indian variant. Cases of the variant, also known as the B16172 strain, have risen to more than 1,300 as of May 12.
But on Tuesday Mr Johnson said he saw no conclusive evidence to delay the full reopening of the economy on June 21.
“I don’t see anything conclusive at the moment to say that we need to deviate from the roadmap,” Johnson said, adding that more would be known “in a few days’ time.”
