Cole-Hamilton responds to Jeane Freeman at Covid Inquiry

Responding to the appearance of the former health secretary at the UK Covid Inquiry this afternoon where she claimed that, “there were certainly areas where Scotland could have been better prepared,” Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

"No one expects the Health Secretary to have been able to predict every twist and turn but Scottish ministers could certainly have been better prepared.

"The Scottish Government's 2015 Silver Swan pandemic planning exercise was an utter failure. It claimed there was sufficient PPE stockpiled for even the worst-case scenario, didn't mention testing and missed out care homes. As a result, the country was left playing catch up.

"The public inquiries must ensure that lessons are learned from the failures in pandemic planning, PPE and protecting care homes."