Labour's Doreen Lawrence vital to assessing impact of coronavirus

It seems entirely fitting that in the same week as the anniversary of the brutal murder of her son, Stephen, 27 years ago, Doreen Lawrence accepted the position of race relations adviser and head of Labour’s review into a highly troublesome aspect of this devastating pandemic.

The UK Government is, of course, currently conducting its own research into dramatic statistics that show that more than a third of people in intensive care with Covid-19 are from BAME backgrounds, with former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission Sir Trevor Phillips, whose appointment is proving very controversial, at the helm.

Starmer has already made it clear that the Labour Party and Baroness Lawrence intend to take a different approach from the government’s investigation. They are going straight to representative groups and intend to publish their findings as a matter of urgency. The official investigation’s timescale is much less clear.

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Hopefully, the results of both inquiries will shed some light on the reasons behind these truly alarming statistics. Three leading clinicians have recently conducted a detailed analysis of the figures and their findings were reported in HSJ , the journal for healthcare leaders, last week. Of the first 19 doctors who died of coronavirus, all but one were from BAME communities. Of the first 35 nurses and midwives who lost their lives, over 70% were from BAME backgrounds, more than three times the comparable percentage of the workforce as a whole.

Meanwhile, figures from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre have revealed that a third of people in intensive care are from BAME backgrounds, despite making up only 14% of the population.

These intensive care figures are for England only and there is a pressing need for Scottish data on ethnicity correlations with Covid-19 to be published to inform this ongoing research. All additional information which helps to make sense of this disproportionate impact across the UK is of vital importance.

There is another matter here. When I first wrote in this column about the importance of understanding the disproportionate deaths of BAME health workers, I was accused online of being “sectarian” by a fellow independence supporter. This is debate on the same pathetic level as some Unionists who used to accuse the SNP of being racist when nationalists pointed out the disproportionate casualty rate of Scots in the Great War. As a movement, we need to raise our game on such issues if we are to maintain the hard won trust and confidence of Scotland’s minority communities.

There are no doubt complex factors at work. Some underlying health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure are more prevalent in BAME patients, as well as social conditions such as overcrowding, poverty and living in densely populated cities.

Then, of course, there is the high proportion of minorities in key health worker roles. A huge amount of work and analysis is needed to get to the key factors involved.

However, one of the defining aspects of this horrendous pandemic is the way it has exposed existing health and social inequalities. It is reassuring then that someone like Baroness Lawrence, who has an impressive track record on fighting institutional racism highlighting the endemic discrimination from which BAME communities suffer, is to hold such an important role in these investigations.

That will be important alongside vital medical expertise from the British Medical Association and Royal College of Nursing. Lawrence understands not least because she herself has suffered deeply with the loss of her son and has made it her mission to build a more tolerant and inclusive society as a result.

We need more appointments like hers to ensure that BAME voices are heard, not overlooked or ignored or regarded as mere collateral damage.

And we need more minority representation across the board in order to truly reflect society. As well as BAME voices, that also means more women in top positions, more disabled visibility, more elderly voices.

One particular current and glaring example springs to mind. The insight and sensitivity Lawrence will surely bring to her new appointment is the polar opposite of someone like Downing Street special adviser, Dominic Cummings, muscling his way onto the secret scientific Sage committee. Now that Boris Johnson is back in business at Number 10, he could demonstrate that he has changed his ways by removing Cummings forthwith and then publishing the names of the Sage advisers.

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IN a cut-and-dried case of the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time, Cummings is no fan of the NHS, and it has been widely reported that he grasped the discredited notion of “herd immunity” and opined that our elderly community were dispensable in order to save the economy. Most importantly, he is not a scientist. He is a political adviser and therefore has an agenda. In this sense, his contribution towards Sage can be neither informed nor objective.

You could argue that Doreen Lawrence might also struggle with objectivity given the injustice of her son’s death, but she has turned this terrible loss into her life’s work and has gone on to be a vital voice in the struggle for racial equality, a long journey of public service and reform.

Meanwhile, Cummings remains in contempt of parliament for his role in Vote Leave and alleged fake news stories. It all comes down to trust and public confidence and this current government is fast running out of room on both.

So, out of the misery of coronavirus, can we all agree that real, lived experience plus expertise in one’s chosen subject trumps agenda-driven, blinkered and ill-informed amateur and highly politicised input?

That means more Lawrences and fewer Cummingses in key positions signalling a willingness to first understand social inequalities and then have the resolve to change them.