AUSTERITY and unclear guidance led to lives being lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, the independent inquiry in the authorities’ handling of the crisis has heard.

The STUC told UK Covid-19 Inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Hallet on Wednesday that years of austerity cuts had proved “lethal” as short-staffed and under-resourced health and social care services faced their biggest challenge in post-war history.

STUC general secretary Roz Foyer, who testified before the inquiry, said: “Workers across our economy, especially in health and social care, were dangerously exposed to the virus through a deadly combination of understaffing, PPE shortages and poor pandemic planning from central government.

“With a Health and Safety Executive hamstrung by budget cuts and, with limits on devolution, a Scottish government unable to effectively legislate on employment and health and safety matters, working people were caught in the cross-fire with grave results.”

Giving evidence today, Dr Donald MacAskill of Scottish Care, which represents private social care providers, was similarly damning in his assessment, not only of the resourcing and staffing problems highlighted by Ms Foyer but also of social care’s apparent second-class place in decision-making during the crisis.

He said: “I do call into question the prioritisation of the acute and secondary NHS, with the limited degree of resources available at the expense of the social care sector and those who it supported.”

Dr MacAskill went on to argue that this had had very real effects when it came to the testing of patients discharged from hospital before entering care homes, challenging testimony by then Scottish health secretary Jeanne Freeman that there were insufficient tests available.

He said: “I’m not at all convinced, having seen some of the other written evidence statements from other parties, that it was just an issue around availability.

“From our perspective, we were very clear. Testing wasn’t a panacea, but it was an additional tool to give assurance to help individual residents in a care home reduce the risk of being isolated for long periods of time and to enable staff to return to work as quickly as possible.

“Nobody came to us to say or ask how many tests do you think would be needed.”

Dr MacAskill was similarly scathing about unclear guidance, which he branded “simply wrong,” which led to an effective “blanket ban” on hospital admissions from care homes.

He added: “I have absolutely no doubt that individuals whose lives could have been saved were not saved because of the nature of that uncertainty caused by this guidance.”

The inquiry continues.