As we now know the state of preparedness for the current Pandemic by The Government, Public Authorities/ Services and Local Resilience Forums (LRF) was not as the nation had expected it to be.
Whilst this pandemic presents a unique set of circumstances, as indeed others have in the past, we fully appreciate that this situation was primarily due to the cancellation of the Governments 2018 planned Pandemic-Preparedness workshops by Whitehall officials, due to a lack of take up by local councils. In addition to Central Government not sharing clearly key data, especially on expected coronavirus deaths. Resulting in unprepared, uninformed politicians and public services.
Within the past few months we have experienced what can only be described as a one-way, unidirectional relationship from the Government and Public services to frontline essential service provision. Demanding completion of multiple tasks and furnishing of information in a multitude of formats and frequencies. Yet when questions were raised by service providers or requests made to have rational discussions, a consistent resistance was met they didn’t want to listen, talk, understand nor take corrective action. Resulting in confusion for the frontline service providers and those receipt of services as well as the general public.
Many to date have experienced almost domineering behaviour from public services and Politian’s alike, asserting that they know best! Yet they haven’t and lives have been lost and will continue to do so.
To date, there has regrettably been no joined up thinking nor planning. Lessons urgently need to be learnt from these experiences so far, in order to make sound and safe action as lives are still at stake.
If both science and history are to be believed the virus has not gone away and the next wave is on its way, this time in the form of a tsunami of life threatening infections. As such it is imperative that we all realise that we must come together and unite our behaviours to combat these infections. Not by prioritising any sector of life before another. Instead humanely, and urgently reach rational and national agreements ensuring we are consistent in our approach to tackle the diseases and stop battling between ourselves.
