Former Stormont Health Minister quizzed over Northern Ireland's preparedness at start of outbreak
Robin Swann has admitted he did not provide sufficient direction in preparing for a surge in the number of critical cases during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Stormont powersharing Executive had recently been restored at the time and Ulster Unionist Mr Swann had taken on the role as health minister. Counsel to the inquiry, Nick Scott showed Mr Swann the first Northern Ireland specific modelling for Covid, which was produced on March 20 2020. Mr Swann said: “At that specific point in regard to the 32,000 daily new symptomatic cases was a stark focus in regards to what Northern Ireland was actually going to be facing in regards to those numbers without any intervention.”Mr Swann said: “I think it was at that point, in regard to the 32,000, the daily hospital admissions of 4,000 possibly per day, was really that point that made this whole thing real both to me and my Executive colleagues.
The barrister asked if prior to the modelling there had been “sufficient pace of planning to ensure the health service could respond to the pandemic”. Mr Scott said that 10 days after the modelling figures, the department of health published a summary plan to ensure there was sufficient capacity to meet increase in demand. He asked the former minister why it did not include a surge plan for critical care cases.
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