Newsletter No. 8 – Live Webinar Recording & Updated FAQs

On the 7th June 2022, we hosted the fourth in our series of Covid Inquiry live client newsletters, designed to deliver important updates directly to our Covid Inquiry clients and the wider Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Group about developments with the Inquiry, and to help them better get to grips with the legal process. 

This webinar was slightly different to previous webinars, in that it covered 2 very important topics: the recent Gardner case, and the Chair's upcoming 'Listening Project'. 

Catch up on our previous live webinars

 

Gardner & Harris -v- The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Dr Gardner and Ms Harris, like many of the bereaved, sadly lost their care home resdient fathers to Covid-19 in the very early days of the pandemic in 2020. Dr Gardner and Ms Harris have since brought a case against the Goverment, claiming that the Government did not do enough to protect care home residents from the three principal routes of transmission of Covid: infection from other residents, external visitors, and care home staff. You can read the ruling of the case here. 

Dr Oliver Lewis of Doughty Street Chambers, member of our counsel team, kicked off the webinar with a presentation on the Gardner case, explaining the outcomes and implications for the Covid Inquiry. We were then very lucky to be joined by Dr Gardner who took her time to share her thoughts on the ruling, explaining why it didn't go far enough.

 

Listening Project

Pete Weatherby KC and I then introduced the Chair's upcoming 'Listening Project'. We are keen to gather your thoughts, comments, and questions regarding project. It is important that we have the opportunity to draft a proposal based on the needs of you, the bereaved, before the Inquiry team decide how the project will be shaped.

If you would like to provide evidence of who your loved one was in life and the circumstances of their death, and you have a particular view of how you would like that evidence to be gathered from you and presented to the Inquiry, please get in touch with me at covidinquiry@broudiejacksoncanter.co.uk.

 

FAQ update

While we weren't able to answer every question live during the webinar, our legal team has ensured that every question asked that evening has received an answer. The most relevant of which can now be found on our updated Covid Inquiry FAQ page. If you have a question that has not been answered by a member of the team or the FAQ page, please get in touch with us directly at covidinquiry@broudiejacksoncanter.co.uk and we will ensure we get back to you with an answer.

 

Looking forward

We would also like to just say a huge thank you to each of you for your continued participation and engagement so far. The webinar was a success and we have been delighted by the positive feedback we’ve received regarding the format. It is clear that you have found this to be useful, so we will be making plans to host more of these webinars in the future and will update you all with the details in future newsletters.

 

Client newsletter archive

 

If you have lost a loved one to Covid-19, you have a right to be part of the public inquiry process. There is strength in numbers, so that as a group we can apply pressure to government and the inquiry. We represent our Covid Inquiry clients pro bono, this means at no cost or financial commitment to you. Find out more