Scottish Covid inquiry: Public asked to share experiences of pandemic

Scots are being asked to share their personal experience of the pandemic.

A new website is being launched to allow members of the public to detail how they thought the Scottish government handled the health crisis.

The project aims to assess the impact Covid had on them or their loved ones, and what lessons should be learned.

Experiences shared will be "at the heart" of the inquiry into the Scottish government's response to the pandemic from 1 January 2020 to the end of 2022.

The Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry will establish facts and lessons to be learned.

It will also make recommendations to Scottish ministers to ensure the country is better prepared in future.

The main UK Covid inquiry began last August, but the separate Scottish investigation has been beset by delays.

Four members of the inquiry's legal team stood down last October.

Its chairwoman Lady Poole also quit for personal reasons and was replaced by Lord Brailsford.

The new website - Let's Be Heard: Sharing Scotland's Covid Experience - will be launched on Tuesday.

Printed submissions will also be available in GP practices, care homes, pharmacies and libraries.

Dr Alexandra Anderson, head of Let's Be Heard, said: "Everyone in Scotland has been affected by the pandemic.

"Thousands of people have lost their lives, and many continue to be deeply impacted. Lessons people believe should be drawn from their experiences, both positive and negative, will be at the heart of the inquiry's investigations.

"Our internal research team will analyse the experiences people share with us and produce a series of reports to help shape the inquiry's investigations and inform its reporting and recommendations to Scottish ministers."

Jane Morrison, whose wife Jacky died from hospital-acquired Covid in 2020, welcomed the project.

She told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "We don't want any other people to ever have to go through what we've gone through.

"Where things have gone wrong, we can hopefully tell people about them and make suggestions for how it could can be improved."

Ms Morrison, from Scottish Covid Bereaved, said the group were also keen to highlight areas of good practice they had come across.

And she said the "very positive" initiative would help bring together many experiences.

Ms Morrison added: "It would be impossible in the inquiry setting to get all of these people to come forward and tell their story.

"They can tell their story, they can say this is what happened to me and, more importantly, this is the impact this had on me."

The campaigner also welcomed the fact that, unlike the UK inquiry, every response will be read by someone on the Scottish inquiry team.

According to Scottish government statistics on 18 May, there were 2.1m cases of Covid in Scotland during the pandemic.

Just over 36% of people in Scotland have tested positive for the virus. A total of 17,599 people lost their lives.

The Scottish inquiry has cost taxpayers more than £2m to date.

It was set up to investigate areas such as pre-pandemic planning, the decision to go into lockdown, the supply and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) and how the virus was dealt with in care homes.

The inquiry will begin in July with expert evidence, with full hearings to follow in October.