18 July 2023 , 13:08
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Bereaved families have told the Covid-19 Inquiry that their loved ones were “treated like toxic waste” and demanded lessons are learned.
Furious relatives explained how a lack of PPE and testing meant the virus ravaged through hospital wards and infected patients who they never saw again.
They spoke of the lasting grief linked to the “lack of dignity” in death, and being unable to say goodbye, before victims were “double bagged” in body bags that could not be unzipped.
After giving evidence, witness Brenda Doherty told the Mirror she had nothing but “pure disgust” for former PM Boris Johnson and Government staff who “partied while people were dying alone”.
Brenda Doherty's mother, Ruth Burke, 82, was the first woman to die from coronavirus in Northern Ireland in March 2020, having contracted hospital-acquired Covid-19.
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The last time she saw her mother, Ms Doherty thought she would be discharged from hospital the following day, but she would later die in hospital, alone.
Brenda Doherty described her mother's death at the inquiry this morning (PA)Brenda had brought a nightgown as a gift for Mother’s Day but hospital staff turned her away, while reassuring her Ruth would be out soon.
Brenda, of north Belfast, explained: “We didn't get mom's clothing back from the hospital. It was incinerated. Thanks to the kindness of a nurse, we got a cross back.
“I like to pretend mummy was in the night dress that I bought her. But the reality is that I know she was double bagged, like toxic waste.
“We met mum at the cemetery gates. Only my sister and I could be near the graveside and another eight family members could stand further back behind white tape.
“I went to walk to touch mum’s coffin and was told I wasn’t allowed up to the graveside until mummy was in the hole in the ground.
“Then all our families had to go our separate ways to our houses. There was no coming together for us.”
Speaking afterwards, Brenda said: “It’s absolutely scandalous the Government behaved in the way they did.
Bereaved Martina Ferguson and Larry Byrne described their pain to the inquiry (ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)“I have nothing but contempt for the way they behaved. So many people were dying alone while they were partying.”
Matt Fowler is co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice whose 56-year-old father, Ian, died in April 2020.
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Matt, from Warwickshire, said: “The loved ones that we lost, we lost without dignity.” Ian was a design engineer for Jaguar Land Rover and caught coronavirus and died in hospital. He had recently taken voluntary redundancy and his family had expected “decades of enjoying his well earned retirement”.
Matt, 34, explained: “I never saw him again. “They made the decision to withdraw life support… we were offered the chance to have a video call with my dad in hospital.
“That was something I didn’t want to take them up on because that’s not how I wanted to remember him.”
Due to restrictions Ian had to be cremated in his hospital gown. Matt added: “For anyone who’s spent time in a hospital gown they are not dignified… certainly not for someone making their final journey.
Matt Fowler with his dad Ian, who died after contracting Covid-19 (Collect Unknown)“There was no opportunity to display the body in an open casket… to say final goodbyes.
“It was like… I remember spending time with him on his birthday in January, and then he disappeared off the face of the planet."
The inquiry also heard how “do not resuscitate” orders were widely placed on patients without consulting their families.
Anna-Louise Marsh-Rees told how she believes her father, Ian Marsh-Rees, caught the virus whilst in hospital.
He went into Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, with a gallbladder infection in 2020 before being discharged when his ward was closed down due to a Covid outbreak.
He was not tested but after his death the families discovered his hospital notes stated that he had been exposed to the virus.
She told the inquiry the family have since learned 21 people on his ward had Covid and 12 died.
“My mother wasn't told that he had been exposed so she when he came out she stayed with him in the same room,” Anna-Louise said.
“She subsequently got Covid, as did my sister. He deteriorated almost from the minute he was discharged. He got sicker and sicker, he was falling asleep while eating. He had severe diarrhoea.
“We had 13 calls to the GP and they had four out of hours doctor visits, none of whom ever suggested he might have Covid.”
After being readmitted Ian’s condition deteriorated rapidly and a “do not resuscitate” order was placed on him without consulting the family.
Anna-Louise said: “We would be calling almost hourly. We were told he needs five litres of oxygen, he needs ten litres, by Wednesday he needed 50 litres and we were having the ‘you need to be prepared’ conversation’.
“We were just completely in shock.” She continued: “It haunts us all. People used to say ‘well, they're in the right place’ when they go to hospital. I'm not sure they would say that anymore.”
Anna-Louise, who leads the Welsh branch of Covid-19 Families for Justice, said her mother still suffers with Long Covid and “cries daily”.
She said: “My dad did not have a good death. Most of our members’ loved ones did not have a good death.
“Once somebody with Covid dies, they are almost treated like toxic waste. They are zipped away and nobody told us that you can't wash them, you can't dress them.
“You can't do any of those things. Funerals are ceremonies. You couldn’t sing at a funeral. We're Welsh, that's something you have to do.”
She added: “When we left the hospital they put my dad's stuff in a Tesco carry bag. Some people were given someone else’s clothes that were in a pretty awful state. It's things like that, that don't often get considered.”
Nicola Brook, solicitor at Broudie Jackson Canter, who represents families from the Covid 19 Families for Justice group which has almost 7,000 members, said: “Today marks a seminal moment in the Covid Inquiry as we have finally heard from the people who matter most, those who lost loved ones.
"It is shocking that we have had to wait this long considering promises to put the bereaved at the heart of the inquiry, and we call on the Chair to listen to the evidence of more of the bereaved during future modules.
“From the evidence we have so far heard, the UK was woefully unprepared for the pandemic, resulting in a catastrophic loss of life."
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