Five years since lockdowns but the shadow of Covid remains

LONG-TERM IMPACT ON CHILDREN IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING TO BE UNDERSTOOD, SAYS HEALTH BOSS

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

A NOTTINGHAMSHIRE public health boss says the Covid pandemic was the most “harrowing” period of her career as she describes getting down to just 24 hours of PPE supply at one point.

Five years on from the first lockdown measures being introduced across the UK, Nottingham’s public health director has also expressed fears that we are only just starting to understand the “huge impact” the period had on children and young people.

Public health directors played a crucial role during the pandemic in terms of both messaging around the virus and bringing various agencies together in a partnership to work on the response to coronavirus. Key challenges they faced during that time included the impact of lockdown measures themselves and managing the risk posed by Covid in settings like care homes.

"I think it was one of the most harrowing times of my career actually", says Melanie Williams, the executive director for adult social care and public health at Nottinghamshire County Council. “There are many individuals that can’t survive without proper health and social care, but equally we also acknowledged that we were putting staff at some degree of risk by expecting them to go and continue to work in care homes or people’s own homes.

“We were constantly balancing some of those risks about the people we care for and the people that care for them. What we weren't able to plan for was the degree to which PPE would run out.

“PPE supplies were prioritised for the NHS and one can understand that because it’s a life and limb service. Social care isn’t always seen in that way and that’s one of the important bits of learning.