A doctors' campaign group is urging the Government to form a Pandemic Preparedness Programme to prevent further NHS deaths, saying the Tories have "failed to learn from the pandemic".
EveryDoctor is suing the Government over its decision to award PPE contracts worth £650m a handful of inexperienced companies.
The High Court battle, which started this week, was launched after 880 health and social care workers died of Covid - many with no or inadequate PPE.
Now the CEO of EveryDoctor, which represents 1,700 medics across the UK and is supported by more than 26,000 doctors on Facebook, says more frontline workers will be killed if another pandemic hits.
Dr Julia Patterson told the Mirror: "The Government has not learnt from this pandemic - they were warned about the potential of Covid before it happened and no health body was set up so it was completely chaotic. And they still aren't doing this now - and we could see an even worse pandemic in the future which could infect even more people.
"We need the Government to pledge a Pandemic Preparedness Programme in order to stop this chaos and death toll - and the risk to our medics - from happening again."
Dr Patterson said the Government must begin a strategy for stockpiling PPE and preparing new vaccines quickly in the event of another pandemic by setting up a bespoke pandemic body.
She has also urged the Government to revisit recommendations made in the Exercise Cygnus report from 2016, which exposed major operational failings in the Government’s simulated pandemic response.
As part of the new programme, Dr Patterson also suggests that the Government:
- consults with health and social care bodies across the UK about their experiences of Covid-19;
- improves support for frontline workers by providing sick pay, death-in-service benefits and accommodation for those who can’t safely live at home;
- facilitates priority testing for those working on the frontline.
"We haven't seen any evidence of this yet - and we would be putting the same if not more health workers at risk without it," she said.
"It's a risk to everyone if we don't protect NHS workers - that 880 workers will just have been the tip of the iceberg because we don't know how many other people they went on to infect."
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She also said the 2022 Covid public inquiry was "too little, too late" - and we could have another pandemic by the time it reaches its conclusions.
"Covid has shown how quickly and unexpected something like this can happen," she said.
"People keep saying it was an unprecedented event - but the Government had anticipated that something like this could happen and were told what to do, so it was precedented actually. We are in the era of pandemics - we could well have another one."
Dr Patterson added that the British public should also be told why companies that had little or no history of manufacturing or procuring PPE-won contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds to provide equipment - much of which was unfit for purpose when eventually delivered.
Dr Patterson said: “When Covid-19 hit last year, we all knew it was going to be tough, but I don’t think anyone working in the NHS could have imagined just how horrific the situation on the frontline would become. So many lives were lost, including more than 880 health and social care workers who died, many with no PPE.
“We now want to know why we weren’t prepared. Why reports dating back years, including the government’s own Exercise Cygnus Report from 2016, as well as repeated warnings from the international health community, and pleas from frontline staff were all ignored.
“We deserve answers, and we are hoping that by taking our case to the High Court we will get some. This is not a political case, it’s about safety. The safety of frontline NHS staff, the safety of our patients and the safety of our loved ones. This situation must never be repeated.
“We want to know what the Government’s plan is for the future, to prevent another PPE catastrophe.”
Last week, the EveryDoctor campaign group beamed giant images on buildings across London to raise awareness of their upcoming High Court case, featuring three statements: The Buck Stops Here; What’s the Plan, Matt?, addressed to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, and #ProtectNHSWorkers.
All were accompanied by the caption “You didn’t give us safe PPE.”
The buildings included the ExCel centre - home to one of seven Nightingale hospitals, which the group describes as "hastily organised and shut down soon after".
EveryDoctor added: "Poor planning like this put the whole nation at risk. The Government must be answerable for their decisions. That's why we're taking them to court next week."
The other locations were the Department for Health and Social Care, NHS England, Public Health England, and a London mask supplier,
EveryDoctor is now urging people to support their Pandemic Preparedness Programme by signing their open letter to Mr Hancock, which currently has just under 8,000 signatures.
The letter writes: "A Pandemic Preparedness Plan is absolutely essential to safeguard the UK ahead of potential future health threats. Please listen to us; it’s time to act."
- To sign to open letter, visit https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/whats-the-plan-matt-sign-our-open-letter/
