During the initial stages of the coronavirus outbreak, the health department of Stormont has been labelled by a former minister as Northern Ireland’s biggest source of transmission. Ex-DUP agriculture minister, Edwin Poots, referred to the health department as the most significant source of the virus. He claimed at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that the unnecessary deaths of numerous individuals was the result of moving senior citizens from hospitals to care homes without quarantining them or conducting tests.
Now serving as the speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mr Poots became emotional while presenting evidence during the inquiry, remembering the loss of his father in the pandemic. In April 2020, Charlie Poots passed away at 90. Mr Poots’ personal experience of his father’s illness, hospitalisation, and subsequent death, is shared by thousands of families and was deeply distressing.
When asked if his personal experiences influenced his understanding of the political reaction to the health emergency, Mr Poots communicated that it indeed had. He described the ban on visiting graveyards as both ineffective in terms of saving lives and remarkably heartless regarding how it impacted the families of the deceased.
The inquiry, which is ongoing in Belfast for a period of three weeks, is examining the Northern Ireland Executive’s approach to the outbreak. Mr Poots was asked to analyse the health protocols implemented in Northern Ireland in March 2020 for containing the virus. It emerged from a written statement of Mr Poots, read by Nick Scott, the inquiry’s counsel, that he believes the health department created catastrophic outcomes by becoming the greatest spreader of the virus.
The ex-minister explained that the health department at Stormont would mirror the strategies employed by its English counterpart, implementing a policy whereby hospital beds were made available for the potential influx of patients. This involved the clearing out of hospitals, a decision he now criticises as “rash”.
Mr Poots expressed grave concern over the transferring of elderly patients from hospitals to nursing or residential care homes without undergoing quarantine or testing. He lamented on the lack of foresight which he believes should have deterred such transfers, especially without quotas or a proper quarantine process in place given that these care facilities cater to a fragile demographic.
During a visit to his dying father in April 2020, he observed the few residents left in the hospital. The former minister anguished over the rush to discharge older patients to free up hospital beds – a demand that he claimed never truly surfaced, which left care homes in a dire state.
The workers in these nursing homes, according to Mr. Poots, faced a ghastly ordeal as they witnessed the demise of one patient after another. In response to Mr. Scott’s query about what could have been done differently, Mr Poots reasoned that if clearing hospitals were crucial, it should have been accomplished in a more organized manner to prevent further complications. He bemoaned the indiscriminate transfers to nursing and residential homes without testing or quarantine measures.
Mr. Poots stated that the health department undertook these steps without conferring with the broader powersharing executive of Northern Ireland. He censured this significant decision, attributing numerous unnecessary deaths to it. – PA.