Lawyer asks Covid probe for clarity on when it will explore mental health impact

A lawyer representing patient groups at the Covid-19 Inquiry has called for clarity on when the probe will examine the impact the pandemic had on mental health.

It comes after inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Hallett (pictured) was accused of making a “U-turn” on the issue.

Mental health charity Mind had called for Module 3 – which is looking at how the pandemic affected healthcare systems, patients and health care workers – to explore the impact on wider mental health services, and not just inpatient psychiatric care for children.

After consideration, Baroness Hallett ruled that the portion of the inquiry “cannot include the issue of the impact of the pandemic on adult mental health services within its broad provisional outline of scope and the hearing time available”.

Speaking at a preliminary hearing for Module 3 in London on Wednesday, Adam Straw, who is representing John’s Campaign and the Patients Association, called for clarity on when the impact on mental health will be explored.

“It’s not clear which module will examine this important issue, or why it doesn’t fit, most obviously, within this module,” he said.

“It is important that adult mental health is investigated. The pandemic response – restrictions on visits, for example – had a very severe impact on those with psychiatric problems in hospitals or otherwise.”

Mind has joined forces with the likes of Rethink Mental Illness, the Centre for Mental Health, the Association of Mental Health Providers and other groups to urge Baroness Hallett to reconsider her ruling.

An open letter shared with the PA news agency said the “refusal” to examine the pandemic’s impact on mental health “risks failing the people with pre-existing mental health conditions who died at five times the rate of the general population”.

An inquiry spokesman said Baroness Hallett “has explained that the inquiry will cover the pandemic’s impact on the mental health of the population throughout our investigations, including Module 3, as well as our UK-wide listening exercise, Every Story Matters”.

Mr Straw added: “Mental health healthcare is an integral part of the broader healthcare system. And we agree with Mind that the consequences should fall within this module.

“In any event, we respectfully invite the inquiry to confirm in which module this will be investigated.”

Lawyers at the preliminary hearing also raised concerns about so-called “spotlight hospitals”, facilities that have been selected to assist the inquiry in gathering evidence of the impact of Covid-19.

The inquiry sent requests to 22 hospitals across the country in order to gauge what steps were taken in response to the virus and the challenges they faced.

However, Pete Weatherby, who is representing the the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, told the probe he understands the approach and its design to “get a spread of evidence from across the UK” but urged “further consideration” on a number of “key issues”.

He noted that the selection of hospitals in Northern Ireland are in main cities, but not rural areas, while hospitals in Wales are located in the south, which Mr Weatherby said “excludes the health care experience from across the rest of the country”.

Speaking about the Welsh hospitals selected, Aswini Weereratne, representing Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru, said “large swathes of Wales – the rest of South Wales for example, north Wales, and rural areas – are not covered by the selection made”.

Mr Straw recognised the spotlight approach as “potentially useful”, but said “it should not be exclusive and should not preclude a full and proper investigation of the relevant systemic issues by other means”.

Jacqueline Carey, lead counsel for Module 3 of the Inquiry, said: “The purpose of the spotlight is not to identify hospitals most severely affected by the pandemic.

“Nor was it to conduct an examination nation by nation, region by region, or hospital by hospital. It is not a comparative exercise comparing one hospitals response against another, nor could it be.”

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