A convicted murderer who died after contracting Covid in prison had refused to shield despite being offered the chance to isolate, the prisons ombudsman has found.
Angela Burkitt, 55, died in hospital from respiratory failure and Covid-19 pneumonia on 17 April 2020 while a prisoner at HMP New Hall in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
She was serving a life sentence after being convicted in December 2017 of killing a neighbour.
She also had chronic COPD, hepatitis C and was a former intravenous drug user, all factors which did not cause but contributed to her death.
Sue McAllister CB, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, said in a report that she was satisfied Burkitt “was given the opportunity to shield during the Covid-19 pandemic, but that she refused to do so, despite being advised of the risks to her health.”
The report added: “We are also satisfied that she was sent to hospital promptly when her condition deteriorated.
“However, we consider the prison should have acted sooner to isolate Ms Burkitt when she displayed symptoms of Covid-19, in order to reduce the risk of her infecting other prisoners and staff.”
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at 12.47pm EDT
An extra £37m will be invested in Scotland’s NHS as part of a winter preparedness plan, which will involve a 50% increase in flu vaccinations and a national framework to mitigate pressure on non-Covid services.
The Scottish government’s health secretary, Jeane Freeman, told the Holyrood parliament this afternoon that the winter efforts would also involve work on a national plan with local delivery for the Covid-19 vaccine, as well as increasing overall Scottish testing capacity from the current position of around 27,000 to at least 65,000 tests per day.
Freeman told MSPs that Scotland’s contact-tracing record remained strong, saying: “Over the four-week period of 21 September to 18 October, weeks when case numbers were rising – 91% of positive cases successfully completed within 48 hours – 75% of that number within 24 hours.”
She also revealed that more than 4,000 outpatients had been seen in NHS Louisa Jordan since July, with the facility offering crucial additional capacity in orthopaedics, dermatology, oral medicine and imaging as well as remaining ready to care for Covid patients if necessary.
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Nicola Sturgeon moved to reassure residents of Lanarkshire that they would not be put into tier 4 – the harshest level of the new Scottish five-level system – as local council, NHS and police chiefs wrote to the Scottish government warning of “significant additional harms and consequences” of a move to the near-lockdown conditions required by the top tier.
Schools would stay open but other restrictions would resemble March’s lockdown, including non-essential shop and hospitality closures.
The leaked letter argues that the situation in the health board area of nearly 700,000 residents was improving. The eight-page plea from the two local authorities is also signed by the chief executive of NHS Lanarkshire and Police Scotland’s divisional commander for Lanarkshire.
It states that in recent days the health board has seen the first fall in the percentage of positive tests since mid-April, and points out that a surge in infections related to half-term trips to Blackpool has now slowed significantly.
At her daily briefing, Sturgeon said that she “very much hoped” the Lanarkshire would not be placed in the top tier, and that she would only use that level of restrictions “if it was really necessary to get dangerously high levels of transmission down.”
Elsewhere, community leaders across the Highlands and islands of Scotland have called for local people to be allowed to meet indoors, highlighting the dangers of rural isolation and the fact that worsening weather conditions make outdoor mixing increasingly difficult.
Shetland’s Lib Dem MSP Beatrice Wishart said: “Shetland has a harsh winter, and stopping people from meeting inside at all will add further to feelings of anxiety, loneliness and isolation.”
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