TORY austerity should be inscribed as a “principal contributory cause of death” on a memorial to workers who have died caring for others, the Scottish Secretary has been told.
Trade unionists in the south of Scotland made the claim in an open letter to Alister Jack, delivered to his constituency office to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day on Wednesday.
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Dumfries and Galloway Trades Union Council wrote to the UK Government’s Scottish representative, claiming that successive Tory governments had – through austerity – prevented the NHS replenishing stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE).
“Three consecutive governments (those of David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson) have imposed austerity on the UK,” they said.
“For the NHS the strict budgetary controls had the effect of preventing the updating and replenishment of stocks of personal protective equipment.
“This was your government’s responsibility ... The result was catastrophic for workers (those who your government clapped and called ‘heroes’) in the NHS and social care.”
The letter cited figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which showed that in England and Wales between March 9 and December 28 last year, 414 healthcare workers and 469 workers in social care died from Covid-19. Separate figures for Scotland were not available because these are not published by a person’s occupation.
The letter added: “In addition to these preventable deaths, many thousands of health and social care workers have been off work with Covid-19, due to the PPE shortages in the first wave of the pandemic. There was a further insult to NHS and care workers in the panicked response to these shortages.
“Your Prime Minister presided over a system of procurement that squandered billions of pounds of public funds on Conservative donors and supporters who were given deliberate preferential access to NHS contracts for PPE and the pitiful ‘Test and Trace’ system in England.
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“Conservative austerity should be inscribed as a principal contributory cause of death on a lasting memorial to the workers who have died caring for others in hospitals, care homes and the community.”
Retired teacher John Dennis, secretary of Dumfries and Galloway TUC, told The National: “There was nobody in the office because of Covid, but I think they go in occasionally to pick up mail. I don’t think they’ll get back to us though.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The UK Government has worked tirelessly to help people in all parts of the UK throughout the pandemic, including our fantastic frontline workers ... At the height of the first wave of the virus we procured and provided PPE for millions of frontline workers in all parts of the UK, in support of NHS Scotland.”
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