Tag: pandemic

Injecting Hope: The Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine exhibition

National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh
25 January – 27 April 2025
Free admission

An exhibition telling the story of the global effort to develop a COVID-19 vaccine will open at the National Museum of Scotland in January.

Injecting Hope: The Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine explores the scientific principles and adaptation of innovative research behind this extraordinary endeavour. It looks at the UK-wide, behind-the-scenes work that accompanied the vaccines’ rapid development, production, transport and delivery and examines the sheer logistical challenges behind the worldwide rollout.

Revealing the inspiring stories of scientists and innovators collaborating around the globe to find solutions and save lives, the exhibition will show how these people have shaped the world we live in today. 

Showcasing more than 100 objects and stories that were collected during the peak of the pandemic, it features artworks, interactives, and personal objects examining everything from the virus itself to the work done behind the scenes by volunteers and researchers to make huge innovations possible.

Highlights include the vial of the first COVID-19 vaccine to be administered worldwide, notebooks used by June Almeida, the Scottish scientist who discovered coronavirus in 1966 and artworks interpreting the story of the pandemic by artists including Luke Jerram, Angela Palmer and Junko Mori.

New content created for the exhibition’s Scottish run will explore some of the uniquely Scottish experiences of the pandemic.

Sophie Goggins, Senior Curator of Biomedical Science at National Museums Scotland said: “The development and rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in record time is one of the greatest collaborative human achievements in recent memory.

“This exhibition tells the story of just how this extraordinary feat came to be; from the scientific breakthroughs which led to the creation of the vaccine to the countless individuals who helped to roll it out around the globe.”

Injecting Hope is presented by the Science Museum Group (SMG). It comes to the National Museum of Scotland as part of a national and international tour following its inaugural run at the Science Museum in London.

It forms part of a project with the National Council of Science Museums in India and the Guangdong Science Center in China, which, alongside the Science Museum, opened exhibitions in November 2022.

Injecting Hope builds on the work SMG has undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including its COVID-19 collecting project, hosting NHS vaccination centres within its museums and public engagement events and materials.  

The Injecting Hope project, including the international tour and UK national tour, has been generously supported by Wellcome. The Huo Family Foundation is kindly supporting the national tour of the exhibition.

From austerity to crisis: Covid-19 Inquiry highlights UK’s pre-pandemic weaknesses, says TUC

Just three days short of its second anniversary, the Covid-19 Public Inquiry published the report from the Module One investigation into the resilience and preparedness of the United Kingdom (writes TUC’s NATHAN OSWIN).

The report highlights the devastating consequences of austerity in the decade that preceded the pandemic and the risk of vulnerability in the UK population.

The Impact of austerity on public services

Inquiry Chair, Baroness Hallett, states plainly that, “In short, the UK entered the pandemic with its public services depleted, health improvement stalled, health inequalities increased, and health among the poorest people in a state of decline.” This blunt assessment underscores the critical condition of the nation’s public services as they faced the unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The role of the TUC and evidence from frontline workers

As Core Participants in the Inquiry, the TUC played an integral role in the process, working with our unions to provide the evidence that ten years of under-investment and real terms funding cuts to public service in the run up to the Inquiry left key services struggling to cope.

“Public services, particularly health and social care, were running close to, if not beyond, capacity in normal times” the report states, a statement that doctors, nurses, porters and social care workers have been telling us all. 

The Inquiry also heard that “there were severe staff shortages and that a significant amount of the hospital infrastructure was not fit for purpose. England’s social care sector faced similar issues. This combination of factors had a directly negative impact on infection control measures and on the ability of the NHS and the care sector to ‘surge up’ during a pandemic.”

A call to avoid past mistakes

The report is both a damning indictment and a call to never repeat the mistakes of that decade – a desperate reminder of the need to invest in our public services.

And while the report is not naive about the costs needed to make the UK more resilient ahead of the next pandemic – a matter of when not if – it reaches  the conclusion that “the massive financial, economic and human cost of the Covid-19 pandemic is proof that, in the area of preparedness and resilience, money spent on systems for our protection will be vastly outweighed by the cost of not doing so”.

Addressing health inequalities

What’s more, the Inquiry is crystal clear as to the price we pay for inequality across our communities. It notes that at the outset of the pandemic, the UK had “substantial systematic health inequalities by socio-economic status, ethnicity, area-level deprivation, region, social excluded minority groups and inclusion health groups”.

And Baroness Hallett’s report correctly states that these inequalities weakened the ability of the UK to cope, stating that “resilience depends on having a resilient population. The existence and persistence of vulnerability in the population is a long-term risk to the UK.’ 

Recommendations for the future

The recommendations themselves speak of the need to engage with wider society for planning on how we handle a crisis and to take into account the “capacity and capabilities of the UK”. 

No one knows the capacity and capabilities of our public services better than the staff that deliver them and the TUC and its affiliated unions stand ready to assist the government in this vital work.

Conclusion: Building a resilient future together

It is by working in partnership – with proper resources going into our public services – that we can truly learn the lessons this report sets out and secure the resilience and preparedness that the UK needs for a future full of challenges.

Falkirk commemorates pandemic experience with live screenprinting event at Callendar Park

Remembering Together is a national project that seeks to give each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities the chance to reflect their unique experience of the Covid-19 pandemic with the help of commissioned artists and creative organisations. 

Greenspace Scotland in collaboration with Falkirk Council and Studio Caspar, have been working extensively with the wider community over the past year to create a memorial that authentically reflects the experiences of residents during Covid.  

To celebrate the forthcoming memorial and the project moving to its final stages, a live screenprinting event is set to be held in Callendar Park, with lead artist Caspar J Wilson printing illustrated posters that tell the story of the project so far. Attendees can even take part directly, pulling the squeegee and printing their own edition to be taken home and shared by everyone who comes along.

Wilson, who has extensive experience in socially engaged community art, set out to engage in an authentic process of co-creation with Falkirk communities.

This took the form of workshops held at community venues such as Larbert High School, where pupils made collages expressing how they had been pushed apart in isolation before coming back together; and at the Forth Valley Sensory Centre, where beautiful bouquets of flowers shared thoughts on the kind of calm, green spaces that could be the right venue for a memorial.

The purpose of these interactive workshops was to allow for participants to communicate through creativity, forming a collective vision of a memorial that would authentically reflect the breadth of experience that people had during these difficult years.

Every individual has a unique experience of Covid, but they are all somewhat united in various ways and Wilson sought to reflect that by taking each person’s story and displaying them as a piece of design, in an evolving, growing collection in a public space.

All the drawings, writings, collages and stories from the workshops have been used as inspiration for the memorial, as part of a library of stories, which will take the form of a permanent sculptural installation in Callendar Park.

For this event, a sample of the community artwork made from these workshops will be displayed in Callendar House alongside the screenprinting.

Artist Caspar J Wilson said, “This event is an open invitation to everyone who is curious about our work to create a memorial to Covid.

“I want to share the story of the project so far and all the fantastic community artwork made in our workshops. We are screenprinting an illustrated print that tells this story. Come to Callendar Park, see the community exhibition, watch artist prints being made by hand and take one home with you.”

Lesley O’Hare, Cultural Services Manager for Falkirk Council said “Caspar has taken a range of people from across the Falkirk Council area on a creative journey, enabling them to articulate their experiences of the pandemic in imaginative ways.

“This gathering will be an opportunity to celebrate the journey so far and soon we will see how he has translated these experiences into a design for the memorial”.

Remembering Together Falkirk is commissioned by greenspace scotland with funding from the Scottish Government.

UK Covid-19 Inquiry comes to Edinburgh

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 2A hearings begin in Scotland today (Tuesday 16 January 2024). The hearings are an important stage in the Inquiry’s investigation into decision making and governance in each nation of the UK.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the hearings in Edinburgh or watch them online through the Inquiry website.

Module 2A, ‘Core UK decision-making and political governance – Scotland’, will look into core political and administrative governance and decision-making. It will include the initial response, devolved government decision making, political and civil service performance as well as the effectiveness of relationships with the UK government and local and voluntary sectors.

The Inquiry is also encouraging people in Scotland to share their pandemic experience so we can truly understand the human impact and learn lessons from it.

Find out more about the hearings, the benefits of sharing your story with the Inquiry and how to do so in our video recorded this week at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh:

Standing next to Scotland’s memorial dedicated to NHS staff who worked through the pandemic – the award-winning ‘Your Next Breath’ – Inquiry Secretary, Ben Connah, said he was excited that the Inquiry’s hearings are soon to begin in the Scottish capital:

“It’s the start of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s public hearings here in Scotland. We will be holding three weeks of hearings at the International Conference Centre in Edinburgh. People in Scotland will have the opportunity to hear from politicians, advisers and scientists who were crucial to the decision-making.

“This is a UK-wide public inquiry and it’s really important that we visit the places where decisions were taken and where the impact of the pandemic was felt in different ways in different parts of the country.”

Ben also highlighted how the Scottish public can already participate via Every Story Matters, which will support the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s investigations and help the Chair of the Inquiry make recommendations for the future.

Every Story Matters will provide evidence about the human impact of the pandemic on the UK population. It provides an opportunity for those affected by the pandemic to share their experiences online without the formality of giving evidence or attending a public hearing, as Ben explained.

“The Scottish public can already play their part in the inquiry by logging on to everystorymatters.co.uk and sharing their experience of the pandemic.

“I am really keen that we hear stories from people right across Scotland, from Stranraer to Stornoway, to help us to build a picture of the impact the pandemic had on this beautiful country.”

Joining the Inquiry Secretary in Edinburgh this week is Hussein Patwa, an Aberdeen resident who is visually impaired and registered blind. He described lockdown as “quite tough”.

“Even to this day the pandemic has affected my independence, my ability to get out and about even in my local area. I have also found it has affected my confidence, especially in larger social situations.”

Hussein is also an enthusiastic advocate of Every Story Matters, as he explained: “Telling my story to Every Story Matters has been a cathartic experience for me.

“It has allowed me to reflect on aspects of my experience I hadn’t even thought about, and that in itself was a healing process. I would encourage everyone to share their story on the Every Story Matters website.”

Every Story Matters

Every Story Matters is your opportunity to help the UK Covid-19 Inquiry understand your experience of the pandemic.

Share your story

Increased support offered to Scottish families in relationship crisis across the country

Latest figures from Relationships Scotland show continued fallout from pandemic and cost of living crisis are having a negative impact on family life

Support for Scottish families seeking help to deal with relationship difficulties and family breakdown has increased by almost 40% in the last year, according to Relationships Scotland.

Relationships Scotland, the largest provider of relationship support in the country, has published its Annual Review highlighting the increase in support being offered to couples with relationship problems.

The figures for 2022/23 show that across the charity’s network of 21 member services, 86,000 hours of direct support were delivered, increasing from 62,000 the previous year. The figures also show the network provided support to over 14,400 people across the country, up from 13,850 in 2021/22.

Stuart Valentine, Chief Executive of Relationships Scotland said: “There is no doubt the pandemic and the cost of living crisis have put a strain on families and relationships, and these figures are a stark reminder of how acute this strain is.

“This is a significant increase in hours of support across the whole country, and while it paints a worrying picture of the pressures being felt across the nation, we are encouraged that people feel they have somewhere to turn, and are seeking help to deal with these issues.”

The Relationships Scotland network has a strong focus on early intervention and prevention, working with families as early as possible to support them to look at the issues they are facing and helping them avoid problems spiralling. The work of the 21 member services across the country is supported by around 900 people, including over 400 volunteers.

Stuart Valentine added: “The importance of positive and resilient relationships can not be underestimated, with the damage caused by relationship breakdown estimated to cost the Scottish economy around £3.5b each year.”

Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry: Let’s Be Heard sessions in Leith

YMCA Edinburgh, in partnership with Bethany Christian Trust and Harbour, are organising two opportunities to share your experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic is part of the Lets Be Heard programme.

We are trying to reach as many people in Leith as possible so the voices and stories of Leiths pandemic experiences are heard.

Our sessions will be on the 24th of October at 1 p.m and 6p.m at the Harbour offices.

The events are open to anyone over 16 who live, work or volunteer in Leith and were here during lockdown.

To register to take part, email louisa@ymcaedinburgh.com or call 0793 541 9067.

Ban and tagging for directors who abused Bounce Back Loan scheme

Three businessmen each claimed the maximum £50k Bounce Back Loan and one dissolved his company to avoid repayment

Ivan Hristov Fratev, 57 and Bradley Malone, 57, both from London, and Ryan William Moir, 34, from East Sussex, have been banned from running businesses for a total of 26 years, after each separately claimed £50,000 for their companies in breach of the loan scheme’s rules.

Fratev was also given a 2-year suspended sentence with 4 months’ electronically tagged curfew, at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 23 June 2023, in addition to a 6-year ban, for dissolving his business after taking out the loan. The judge also included 15 days rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) as part of his suspended sentence.

Fratev was the sole director of Chingford-based BI&F Ltd, which traded as a construction, security and extermination business from premises in Alpha Road. In May 2020 he applied for the maximum £50,000 Bounce Back Loan, designed to help businesses keep afloat through the pandemic.

But within two weeks of the money arriving in the company bank account, Fratev applied to dissolve BI&F Ltd, without informing the bank that had loaned him the money. Failure to notify creditors of plans to strike off a company is a criminal offence.

He was caught through powers granted to the Insolvency Service in December 2021, which allow it to investigate directors of dissolved companies who are suspected of closing their business to avoid repaying Covid-19 support loans.

Peter Fulham, Chief Investigator of the Criminal Investigation Team at the Insolvency Service said: “Covid-19 financial support schemes were funded from the public purse to support genuine businesses during the pandemic. Directors who abused the scheme have exploited taxpayers.

“This two-year suspended prison sentence, along with a curfew order and a 6-year disqualification, reflects the thoroughly dishonest conduct of Ivan Fratev and should serve as a warning to others who engaged in such behaviour.

“The Insolvency Service will act to remove directors who abused Bounce Back Loans from the business arena.”

In another case in London, Bradley Malone, the sole director of ONENETPRINT Ltd, a print business trading from Palmers Road in East London, applied for the maximum £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in June 2020, stating that his company’s previous year’s turnover was £200,000.

The Bounce Back Loan scheme allowed a business to borrow between £2,000 and up to 25% of the company turnover in calendar year 2019, with a maximum loan of £50,000.

The company went into liquidation in February 2022 owing the full amount of the loan, which triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Malone told investigators that, during the application process, he had merely clicked ‘next’ on his phone, and the money arrived within the hour. But investigators discovered that Malone had in fact overstated the company’s turnover for 2019 in the application, to claim the maximum £50,000 loan.

They found that the company’s actual turnover for that year had been around £90,200, meaning ONENETPRINT Ltd had received around £27,400 more than it was entitled to, under the rules of the scheme.

In a third case, Ryan Moir, sole director of East Sussex-based Croxton Group Ltd, which traded as a builder from Green Street industrial estate in Eastbourne, applied for the maximum £50,000 Bounce Back Loan on behalf of his company in May 2020. He stated on the application that Croxton Group Ltd’s turnover the previous year had been £250,000.

When the company went into liquidation in May 2022, it owed around £184,500, including more than £49,400 towards the Bounce Back Loan. An investigation by the Insolvency Service showed that the company’s 2019 turnover had in fact been less than £21,000, meaning that Croxton Group Ltd had received almost 10 times more than it had been entitled to under the rules of the scheme.

The company’s liquidators are taking action to recover the money.

Malone and Moir were both banned from being company directors for 10 years, after the Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted disqualification undertakings from each director. Malone’s ban began on 17 July 2023, and Moir’s began on 19 July 2023. Fratev’s court-ordered 6-year disqualification started on 23 June 2023.

The bans prevent the former directors from becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court. In addition to his ban and two-year suspended sentence, Fratev is also subject to 4 months’ electronically monitored curfew between 7pm and 7am, and was ordered to pay court costs of £500.

Majority of Scots will take COVID-19 vaccines in the future

A report published yesterday by Healthcare Improvement Scotland finds that the majority of Scots will take COVID-19 vaccines in the future, based on their experiences with COVID-19.

The survey, commissioned by the Scottish Government, asked questions about people’s motivations around vaccination as we move away from the pandemic.

Uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine has been high and the survey asked people if they would take up new offers of COVID-19 vaccination, or, if not, to understand their reasons why.

The Citizens’ Panel survey, which ran between November 2022 and February 2023, found that of the 667 people who responded to the survey, the majority of respondents (72%) said they would take up the offer of the COVID-19 vaccine in the future. The survey also found that of those who will take up the offer of the COVID-19 vaccine in future, their main reasons were to protect themselves (88%) and to protect others (82%).

One respondent said: “If I can do this to help myself and others, and know the vigorous testing the vaccines have gone through, then why wouldn’t I accept the vaccine?”

Some 12% said they would decline the offer and 17% were not sure. Where respondents did not want it, the most common reason given was concern over possible long-term side effects of the vaccine.

In addition, all respondents were asked if their decision about getting the COVID-19 vaccine has changed over time. The majority said that their decision has not changed (82%). Some 16% said they wanted it at first, but now they don’t, and just 2% said that they didn’t want it at first but now they do.

The survey asks if people are more or less likely to take up the offer of other vaccines, such as flu or childhood vaccines, based on their COVID-19 vaccine experiences, with 36% saying  more likely, 56% saying it’s made no difference, and just 7% saying they are less likely.

Simon Watson, Medical Director at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: “Vaccination is an absolutely essential element of our response to COVID-19 including future variants. It is vital to protect individuals, their families and the wider population of Scotland.”

Clare Morrison, Director of Community Engagement at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: “The findings around vaccination motivations highlight the positive public attitudes towards vaccination, as well as potential areas for improvement, mainly around the need to develop clear and accessible information about vaccine side effects and the benefits of vaccination including their effectiveness against serious illness.”

The report recommends the Scottish Government should continue to consider how to ensure positive and accessible vaccination experiences for all.

It also notes the Government should consider exploring people’s concerns further and their experiences around side effects. Developing further clear and accessible messaging around side effects, and the benefits and effectiveness of vaccination against serious illness may help address this.

Visit our Community Engagement website to access the full report.

NHS Lothian releases results of research into transmission of COVID-19 from hospitals into care homes

Scientists in NHS Lothian have helped to develop national infection controls after studying COVID-19 transmission between hospitals and care homes.

The teams found that 99 per cent of patients discharged from hospital into care homes during the first wave of the pandemic did not introduce COVID-19 into care homes.

The study, conducted with the University of Edinburgh, focused on patients in Lothian discharged from hospital into 130 care homes from 1st March 2020 to 31st May 2020. 

Of the 787 discharges in this time, the researchers found that the majority – a total of 776 – did not introduce COVID-19 into care homes as a result of their hospital stay.

Forty-one of the discharged patients had a positive COVID-19 test within two weeks of leaving hospital and genome sequencing was used to identify if these cases could be linked.

The study found that 30 patients likely contracted this in the care home or from the community.

The results of 10 patients were inconclusive and one patient was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 during their stay in hospital.

Very sadly, this patient later passed away and a number of residents in their care home subsequently contracted COVID-19.

Dona Milne, Director of Public Health and Health Policy, NHS Lothian, said: “This study has shown that 99 per cent of hospital discharges didn’t introduce COVID-19 cases into Lothian care homes during the first wave of the pandemic.

“However, we’re able to say with certainty that one care home outbreak in this time originated from us. We are deeply saddened by this, and our heartfelt apologies and condolences are with the families and loved ones of those affected.

“We began testing symptomatic care home residents very early in the pandemic, so it’s been really important for us to use this information to find out what we can learn about how the virus was contracted and spread and how this linked to our hospitals.”

Before the nation went into its first lockdown when testing wasn’t widely available, NHS Lothian built capacity into its labs specifically to PCR test those who were symptomatic in hospitals and care homes.

Because of this early testing of symptomatic patients, in-depth data was available to the research team to enable them to genome sequence the transmission of the virus as part of the study.

Dr Kate Templeton, Head of Molecular Diagnostics for NHS Lothian who led the study, said: “Testing was a priority for us from the beginning and we were the first health board in Scotland to build capacity in our labs specifically for care home residents.

“This early testing has enabled us to genome sequence the virus and track where this was acquired and how this spread, leading to the creation of an outbreak methodology which has informed best practice at both Scotland and UK-level.

“This methodology not only has applications to COVID-19 but other viruses too and has been vital in learning lessons around infection control. It also clearly shows that the protection of the most vulnerable in society needs to involve not just health authorities but the community too.”

You can read the study in full here.

Holyrood report: Employers should invest in mental wellbeing services and flexible working policies

Mental health and chronic pain are having the most significant impact on economic inactivity rates in Scotland, according to a new report from the Scottish Parliament’s COVID-19 Recovery Committee.

The report considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Scotland’s labour market, looking specifically at long-term illness and early retirement as drivers of economic inactivity.

The Committee found that although the pandemic has not significantly impacted economic inactivity in Scotland, it has clearly highlighted the extent to which a healthy working-age population is required to sustain a healthy economy.

The Committee heard that implementing remote and/or flexible working practices may improve employees’ wellbeing, bring more people into the labour market, including disabled people and people with chronic or mental illness, and support older workers to remain in the labour market for longer.

However, evidence from employers highlighted that many employers, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, require additional support to implement flexible working and improve reasonable adjustment policies.

The report expresses disappointment that due to budgetary pressures, the Scottish Government’s plans for a ‘Centre for Workplace Transformation’, which would seek to embed some of the learning gained from the pandemic, was not delivered on target in 2022.

Additionally, the Committee noted that best practice from wrap-around employability services, like the Fair Start Scotland programme, which provides tailored support to get working-aged people who are disengaged from the labour market back into employment, should be shared across all of Scotland’s local authorities.

Convener of the Scottish Parliament’s COVID-19 Recovery Committee, Siobhian Brown MSP, said: “Whilst our report found the pandemic has not had a significant impact on economic inactivity levels, issues such as poor mental health and chronic illnesses, are part of the complex challenges to Scotland’s economic and social recovery from COVID-19.

“Increased partnership working between the Scottish Government and employers to support investment in employees’ wellbeing and embedding post-pandemic opportunities for flexible working is crucial to supporting more people into the labour market.

“Remote and flexible working practices could also support more disabled people and those living with chronic health or mental health conditions into the workforce, whilst also enabling older people to stay in the labour market for longer.

“It’s important that as a priority, the Scottish Government sets out what additional support it is providing for employers to develop practical resources to support the adoption of flexible working policies and share best practice, which are vital to improving Scotland’s economic activity levels.”

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