13 September 2024

On 12 September, evidence was given at the UK COVID-19 inquiry about how healthcare officials have systematically denied scientific evidence that COVID-19 is airborne. As a member of the COVID-19 Airborne Transmission Alliance (CATA), the RCSLT supports the ongoing investigation into these issues. 

Dr Barry Jones, Chair of CATA, gave evidence at the inquiry about healthcare officials denial of how COVID-19 is transmitted, which has resulted in:  

  • a failure to protect healthcare workers by providing them with enhanced PPE and adequate ventilation, leading to death and life-changing long COVID;  
  • a failure to protect patients, with many contracting the virus in hospital; 
  • billions of pounds being wasted on inappropriate PPE.

Kamini Gadhok MBE, former Chief Executive of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and Vice Chair of CATA highlighted the wider impact of these failures on the NHS: “The staffing crisis in the NHS has been compounded by Government officials’ blatant disregard for keeping healthcare workers safe during the pandemic, and we’re now seeing the impact this is having on patient care and waiting times.”   

The Infection Prevention Control (IPC) Cell formed at the outset of the pandemic wrote the guidance which all health workers and employers were required to follow. Yet, it is unclear:  

  • who was part of the IPC Cell; 
  • what its precise reporting and accountability structures were; 
  • why it refused to consider evidence and concerns from professional associations, scientists, and other government experts that COVID-19 is airborne.   

Since 2020, CATA has been seeking to persuade UK Health Officials to align national guidance to the scientific evidence about how the disease is transmitted and how to protect healthcare workers from infection. 

Dr Barry Jones says: “Those responsible for the IPC guidance failed our healthcare workers, patients and communities. While the message of CATA has been consistent, simple and compelling, the institutional resistance to the scientific evidence has been considerable”.