Call for coronavirus review on BAME cases to be public inquiry
An urgent public inquiry should be held into the rising toll of coronavirus cases among black, Asian and minority people, it has been claimed.
It was reported on Friday that the death rate among British black Africans and British Pakistanis from coronavirus in English hospitals is more than 2.5 times that of the white population.
The Government’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty has commissioned Public Health England to conduct a review into black and minority ethnic (BAME) deaths, but the scope of the review has not yet been announced.
Birmingham councillor Paulette Hamilton, to oversees health and social care issues in the city said the Government’s plan to probe the number of BAME deaths does not go far enough.
Commenting on the disparity, Councillor Hamilton claimed more could have been done earlier to predict the disproportionate impact and protect people from BAME communities.
She called on the investigation being carried out by UK health chiefs to be upgraded into a public inquiry rather than something that is “held privately” and “goes nowhere”.
Public inquiries, such as the Grenfell Tower Inquiry or the Francis inquiry into failings at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, are set up by the Government under the Inquiries Act 2005.
They can be held when there is “public concern” about an event or set of events and collect evidence and examine witness testimonies in hearings which are generally open to the public.
Inquiry panels put recommendations to the Government with the aim of bringing about changes to prevent recurrence.
Councillor Hamilton said: “I am asking that this will be a public inquiry, and not something that is held privately, produces a 1,000-word document and goes nowhere. That would be my issue.
“Should this group have been shielded the way others have been, rather than forced on the frontline and being in danger?
“Some of the questions we have been asked by people in the community have been quite simple questions, because people just did not know – the Government guidance kept changing.
”Some of the issues around PPE have been quite disturbing. It drives this fear and distrust that the Government really is working for the most vulnerable out there in the community.
“It is disproportionately the most vulnerable who have suffered – whether BAME, disabled or elderly.
“We have been going through one of the toughest times ever. As a politician I would say the Government has been learning as it goes along.
“If they have been found to have made some mistakes, I do think they should be held accountable for that. It’s people’s lives at the end of the day.
“The one thing that has stayed in my head is that the man from the World Health Organisation said ‘test, test, test’. He made it absolutely clear.”
Susan Hopkins, deputy director of the National Infection Service at Public Health England said: “Disparities in cases and outcomes of Covid-19 amongst the population is an important issue and the CMO has commissioned PHE to undertake a more detailed analysis into differences between ethnic groups.
”Differences in the proportion of cases between ethnic groups can be due to multiple reasons, such as differences in age and sex distribution, differences in the prevalence of co-morbidities, or differences in where people live.
“A review being undertaken by PHE will investigate this more closely. The findings of this review will be published by the end of May.”
