Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry 13 Nov 2024

Harrowing testimony from PAMIS members.

NB: Contains harrowing details. Discretion advised.

Clearly THE ‘most vulnerable’ children an adults in Scotland were CRUSHED by lockdown policies. Unfortunately, it appears panel members and the inquiry counsel are on damage limitations orders with many crucial points within the witness statement not mentioned and the continued obfuscation using ‘COVID’ instead of LOCKDOWN POLICY is front and centre once again. A prime example of this below.

One young man’s spinal surgery didn't go ahead and that was because of COVID. Sadly, his curvature of the spine progressed to a point where it was inoperable, and the impact of that surgery not being received is enormous. That will result in a premature death.’’

-Paragraph 105 of statement-Elizabeth Mcllraith

Introduction

Jennifer Miller is the Chief Executive Officer of the Profound and Multiple Impairment Service, better known as PAMIS (Promoting a More Inclusive Society). Elizabeth McIlraith is the transition lead for Glasgow City with PAMIS and has been in that role for 13 years.

Testimony highlights-Impacts

Health issue disruption for the most vulnerable and their carers during lockdown.

• Sleep patterns

• Communication

• Behaviour

• Posture

• Mental health

‘For many families support workers are the main support so they were very isolated..they got absolutley no respite whatsoever.’’

‘‘The isolation, the lack of other human contact..(the adverse effects) were ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS…it was HUGE.’’

Healthcare withdrawal ‘‘Criminal’’

During lockdown the most vulnerable children were completely isolated and without adequate healthcare support. Services ‘‘disappeared’’ and to this day service provision has remained inadequate with long term IRREVERSIBLE adverse health impacts now evident.

• No physio

• No speech and language therapists

‘‘To reallocate an allied health professional who’s specific role is to support this group of people…

‘‘It felt CRIMINAL.’’

‘‘We warned RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING this would have implications…it just felt so wrong.’’

School closures

Loss of structure and routine was severe for the health of children with PMLD.

‘‘When they couldn’t make sense of it they shutt down…one of the very negative impacts was that their child had LOST skills they had spent YEARS developing.’’

‘‘For some there was SELF INJUROUS behaviours…where they are picking (themselves) or HEAD BANGING.’’

Statement highlights

Jennifer Miller (CEO-Pamis)

‘‘The closure of schools had a huge impact on children's physical wellbeing. They did not have access to physical aids like hoists or standing frames so they couldn't continue their exercises and many of them deteriorated physically.’’

-Paragraph 25 of statement

‘‘As a result of school closures, families reported to us that their young people lost communication skills. It was devastating. There were concerns about the low mood of their children and young people. Many families highlighted that they could see that their children were depressed,appeared lost and were isolated. These children and young people lost skills which had taken their lifetime to develop.’’

-Paragraph 36 of statement

‘‘The loss of routine was equally as detrimental to the young people.’’

-Paragraph 37 of statement

‘‘Families talked about their children becoming very insular and isolated. They could see the young people becoming depressed as they would stop engaging in the things they had engaged in before.’’

-Paragraph 67 of statement

‘‘We know of one family where a child couldn't go to school for two years because she was worried about passing COVID to her sister with PMLD.’’

-Paragraph 74 of statement

Elizabeth McIlraith

‘‘The pandemic had an absolutely massive impact on my role to be honest,and I suppose in the very early stages before we had any guidance fro mour own government, we had the news coverage mainly about the pandemic in Italy that everybody was seeing.’’

-Paragraph 40 of statement

‘‘Many families were watching the news closely, we all were.’

-Paragraph 43 of statement

‘‘At the beginning of the pandemic, there was very little knowledge, this had never happened before and people were fearful. My daughter is healthy, so am I and so is my husband, but I was scared. We did not go out. We followed the rules.’’

-Paragraph 58 of statement

‘‘As we progressed through the pandemic we started to receive feedback from families telling us that their family member was exhibiting behavioural changes, expressing themselves louder, being more aggressive, sleep patterns being disturbed, not reacting as they had previously, communication and vocalisation was becoming less…

‘‘This was an emerging pattern that families were telling us. As we went further into the pandemic and families became more isolated this feedback became more common…Parents and carers were exhausted, and they were losing hope.’’

-Paragraph 62 of statement

‘‘Services remaining closed had a massive impact on families…all support networks had been withdrawn, regardless if families wanted support or not, even when families were requesting support as they could no longer manage support was being denied.’’

-Paragraph 64 of statement

‘‘I had a few families that were worried about how their loved one was going to react to the vaccination.’’

_Paragraph 69 of statement

‘‘For some of the young people that I support, they just wouldn't be able to tolerate a COVID test. The distress that COVID testing would cause them and the family. You're having to physically restrain somebody to try not to get them to move, to enable you to do an invasive and intrusive test, while they are becoming more distressed and upset.’’

-Paragraph 73 of statement

‘‘At the beginning of the pandemic and the implementation of face coverings/wearing of masks did cause concern because many individuals with PMLD couldn't tolerate face masks…Facial expression is one of the methods that many people with PMLD use and rely on but once you have a mask on it is very difficult to see what facial expressions your supporter is making.’’

-Paragraph 78 of statement

‘‘The prolonged period of isolation that parents faced and experienced during lockdown and the impact it had on their physical and mental health and well being is very worrying.’’

-Paragraph 86 of statement

‘‘Many families compromised their own health to ensure that their sons and daughters were safe and healthy and well. Meanwhile, the impact of their own health, well being and mental health had deteriorated greatly, often as a direct resultof the pandemic and the additional care role they were providing. I know from direct feedback from families, many were disgusted in how they were treated by long standing staff members who had provided services to their sons and daughters for a prolonged time…For many families full service provision still hasn't returned.’’

-Paragraph 90 of statement

‘‘The people PAMIS work with and support were absolutely invisible throughout the pandemic, with many families feeling they weren't taken into consideration at all.’’

-Paragraph 91 of staterment

‘‘The families that we support, it was horrendous because for them the pandemic continued long after it stopped for many people.’’

-Paragraph 92 of statement

‘‘There was a massive impact on young people's posture and on their mobility and on their general health and well-being.’’

-Paragraph 96 of statement

‘‘Lots of families are still not in receipt of the services that they were receiving pre-pandemic. Services did close down, and some services never reopened again.’’

-Paragraph 99 of statement

‘‘The impact of COVID will last for many many years and sadly for some, particularly the group that PAMIS support it will result in unnecessary and avoidable deaths.’’

-Paragraph 105 of statement

Thoughts

Throughout the session all i heard was the impact of ‘‘the pandemic’’.…or ’’COVID’’ ….but the PROVEN irrational government/public ‘health’ lockdown POLICY harms, what’s that? How any organisation can testify about all the above and still blame ‘the pandemic’ or ‘COVID’ in 2024 is unbelievable and potentially sinister as it clearly covers up direct harm/s from those policies which can and likely WILL happen again.

Thanks for reading.

End

Links:

Full statement-Liz McIlraith- https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0388-000001.pdf

Full statement-Jennifer Miller- https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0460-000008.pdf

Video-Youtube-Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry-Impact hearing | Education and certification | 13 November 2024 (morning session)

https://pamis.org.uk/

https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0417-000002.pdf