Scottish COVID-19 inquiry Impact hearing | Health and social care | 19 March 2024 (morning session)
Testimony featured today is from the CEO of Children in Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service
The first witness is Ms Judith Turbyne, Chief Executive of Children in Scotland since 30 August 2021. Here she speaks about the mental health impacts on children during lockdown.
-Isolated
-Lack of peer support
-Social anxiety
‘'There will be many children left with difficult social anxiety and what it means is for some children we won't see those impacts for a number of years'‘
The harms of school closures are discussed.
‘‘School closures were particularly of a high impact for children and young people with additional support for learning needs'‘
'‘A defacto closing down of their rights'‘
In her witness statement it says: ‘‘For many children there was a negative impact on children and their families because of the lack of support from school and the loss of routine.’ -Paragraph 77 of statement
When schools finally did re-open with restrictions in place +Masks +Physical distancing +Bubbles +Testing this proved problematic for many children who found them to be ‘‘anxiety provoking’’ and made it less likely for them to want to go back to school.
''That's a group particularly impacted by ''that stuff''
In her statement it further elaborates longer term issues from lockdown:
‘‘There are also signs of longer-term impacts which including a continuing lowering oflevels of support, delays in identifying needs and in timescales for coordinated supportplans (this latter as a result of the effective suspension of duties within the ASL Act)and lack of planning for support and for transitions.’’ - Paragraph 81 of statement
‘‘In addition, there is evidence that of an increase in numbers of children effectively in part-time education and ongoing levels of anxiety affecting school attendance.’’ -Paragraph 82 of statement
‘‘A lot of the experiences for children and young people with additional support needs throughout the pandemic were quite negative.’’ - Paragraph 83 of statement
‘‘A number of young people we connected with through our projects and research highlighted that many groups, sport or hobbies stopped during the pandemic, limiting opportunities for children and young people to try new activities and learn new skills’’ -Paragraph 90 of statement
Closing statement remarks:
’’There was also a rapid rise in the utilisation of digital technology to supplemen tlearner's education during the pandemic which has not been consistently offered since its conclusion. When considered alongside the difficulties in transitioning back to school, then use of digital technology could be used to support this more effectively.’’ -Paragraph 104 of statement
Testimony 2- The second witness is Allister Purdie, a senior director from the Scottish Prison Service.
Mr.Purdie gave an apology to the family of Calum Inglis, from Edinburgh who was one of the Covid-related deaths in Scotland's prisons during the pandemic. Callums father has stated his death was due to neglect despite testing positive for COVID shortly before he became unwell. (see BBC article below)
"It was 100% neglect. There's no other way to describe it."
He believes that Calum could still be alive if he had been out in the community and not isolated in a prison sell.
"A young man was crying out for help, clearly dying, yet those pleas were ignored."
Total COVID-19 related deaths in Scottish Prtison 2020-2024
An interesting exchange revealled the total amount of COVID-19 related deaths within the Scottish prison system over a 3 year period.
COVID-19 'related' deaths in custody:
2020=5
2021=9
2022=2
'since 2022 ?..''there's been no COVID deaths''
However, accoring to Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research there were 15 COVID-19 related deaths and not 16 as was stated by Mr.Purdie. Important to note there are approximately 8,000 prisoners in Scotland and from Sept 2020-2022 there were 121 deaths in total in Scottish prisons. Deaths in Scottish prisons in 2021 were the highest on record.
''Researchers from the University of Glasgow claim that while Covid infections had an impact on numbers, it was the increase in deaths from suicide and drugs that has been the most significant influence.''
It is also made known to the inquiry the first ‘couple’ of COVID deaths in prison were in older men, committed for serious offences who were completely isolated from the rest of the prison population and had no family contacts.
-No communication-No family support-
'They didn't have ANY real outside contact'
How could they catch and die from COVID or is it more likely the prolonged isolation and lack of care led to their deaths ?
It was noted by Professor Sarah Armstrong, University of Glasgow that the harms of the lockdown policies in prisons were very serious.
''Covid restrictions has led to prisoners becoming isolated and distressed.''
‘‘We would therefore urge the Scottish Prison Service to take urgent action to lift those restrictions and make improving mental health a priority for those in prison.”
The peer reviewed scientific literature on isolation harms is well documented and unambiguous.
-NATURE- A systematic review and meta-analysis of 90 cohort studies of social isolation, loneliness and mortality
‘‘A total of 90 prospective cohort studies including 2,205,199 individuals were included. Here we show that, in the general population, both social isolation and loneliness were significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality.’’
Final statement remarks by Mr.Purdie:
‘‘I am hopeful we will get lots of learning from the Inquiry that's prison specific and some wider learning that we will be able to use to improve our practices and regimes. All with the intention of keeping people in ourcare safe and limiting the harm that people in our care may experience during any future pandemic.’’ -Paragraph 182
End
Links:
Full video-YouTube-Scottish COVID-19 inquiry Impact hearing | Health and social care | 19 March 2024 (morning session)
Full statement Ms.Judith Turbyne-https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0469-000001.pdf
Full statement Mr.Alan Purdie- https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0454-000001.pdf
https://childreninscotland.org.uk/judith-turbyne-appointed-as-new-chief-executive-of-children-in-scotland/
https://childreninscotland.org.uk/shaping-covid-19-inquiry/
https://www.sccjr.ac.uk/news_item/record-number-of-deaths-in-scottish-prisons/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/deaths-prison-custody-scotland-2012-2022/pages/1/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-68607460
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01617-6