Baroness Hallett: UK Was Prepared 'For The Wrong Pandemic'
The UK was “dangerously mistaken” to believe that it was one of the best prepared countries in the world to respond to a pandemic, Baroness Heather Hallett said.In 2019, it was widely believed in Britain and abroad that the UK was “not only properly prepared but was one of the best-prepared countries in the world to respond to a pandemic,” she said.“This belief was dangerously mistaken. In reality, the UK was ill-prepared for dealing with the whole-system civil emergency of a pandemic, let alone the coronavirus pandemic that actually struck.
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00:00In 2019, it was widely believed, in the United Kingdom and abroad, that the UK was not only
00:09properly prepared, but was one of the best prepared countries in the world to respond
00:13to a pandemic.
00:16This belief was dangerously mistaken.
00:20In reality, the UK was ill-prepared for dealing with the whole-system civil emergency of a
00:26pandemic, let alone the coronavirus pandemic that actually struck.
00:31In 2020, the UK lacked resilience.
00:36Going into the pandemic, there had been a slowdown in health improvement and health
00:41inequalities had widened.
00:44High pre-existing levels of heart disease, diabetes, respiratory illness and obesity,
00:51and general levels of ill health and health inequalities meant the UK was more vulnerable.
00:57Public services, particularly health and social care, were running close to, if not beyond,
01:03capacity in normal times.
01:07At the same time, our national system for civil emergencies and for building preparedness
01:13suffered from several significant flaws.
01:17The UK prepared for the wrong pandemic.
01:21The significant risk of an influenza pandemic had long been considered, written about and
01:27planned for.
01:28However, that preparedness was inadequate for a global pandemic of the kind that struck.
01:35The institutions and structures responsible for emergency planning were labyrinthine in
01:40their complexity.
01:42There were fatal strategic flaws underpinning the assessment of the risks faced by the UK,
01:49how those risks and their consequences could be managed and prevented from worsening, and
01:55how the state should respond.
01:58To give but one vitally important example, one of the first lines of defence to a pandemic
02:06is containment, and this requires a system of test, trace and isolate that can be rapidly
02:14scaled up to meet the demands of a major outbreak.
02:18This did not exist in the United Kingdom when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
02:25The UK government's sole pandemic strategy from 2011 was outdated and lacked adaptability.
02:34It was never, in fact, properly tested.
02:37The UK government neither applied it nor adapted it, and the doctrine that underpinned it was
02:43ultimately abandoned, as was the 2011 strategy itself.