For Britain See Wales by England Joe;

Author:England, Joe;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Parthian Books
Published: 2024-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Lessons from the Pandemic

Covid-19 illuminated the significance of community and the importance of looking after the people and places where thousands live. It also revealed that many of the poorly paid were doing essential work. The TUC estimated in 2020 that over 456,000 workers in Wales, nearly half a million, were paid less than £10 per hour. They include 38 per cent of the key workers in Wales, almost four in ten. A majority are women. A prime example is care homes where a high proportion of workers do not earn the living wage, turnover is high and numbers are known to leave for work in supermarkets where they are paid the living wage. Like hospital workers, those in care homes were most at risk of catching the virus. Many did. An ageing population means that care workers are in a growth industry but one that is largely funded out of declining and over-stretched public budgets. The eventual answer will be a National Care Service akin to the National Health Service and working in tandem with it.

Covid-19 also exposed and emphasised the inequalities in health that have existed for generations in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Blaenau Gwent and Neath Port Talbot. The first three areas were consistently the most affected in Wales by Covid-19, a consequence of past employments and current poverty, but also of neighbourliness with friends or different generations of the same family living close together, often in the same street. Research by Bambra, Munford, Brown, et al. show that improving health in former English coalfield towns would significantly improve productivity and wages. This research has lessons for Wales where the inherited problems are even greater. Better health and well-being should be measurements of economic success.

There is a related issue. Britain was unprepared. Never again must we be unprepared when a pandemic invades or recurs, as is more than possible. It is vital that there should be UK access to personal protective equipment (PPE) rather than depending on overseas resources. During the pandemic, high-quality PPE equipment was manufactured at the Royal Mint at Llantrisant and by firms based in Cardiff, Neath, Ystrad Mynach, Ystalyfera, Kenfig and Clydach, among others. Medical visors, scrubs and face masks were supplied to the NHS, care homes and councils. A laboratory within Rhondda Cynon Taf produced coronavirus antibody testing kits. At Newport a Covid-19 laboratory tested specimens. In Crumlin a diagnostic firm won an order for one million rapid Covid-19 antibody tests. In Wrexham a major pharmaceutical company was involved in mass production of a Covid-19 vaccine. The lesson has not been overlooked. Production of PPE equipment at Kenfig Hill is now on a permanent basis while at Rhymney the US firm Innova Medical will initially employ 300 workers producing Covid-19 test kits. Further employment on the site is expected from the production of non-Covid testing products. These are arresting examples of how flexible firms can be when the need is urgent. But rebuilding the British and particularly the Welsh economy will require much more.

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