A man whose mother died during the pandemic has told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that he and other relatives who lost loved ones are \u00ab\u00a0damaged beyond repair\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Glen Grundle said his sense of loss was still so great that he now goes to bed every night not caring if he wakes up the next morning.<\/p>\n
He has been giving evidence to the inquiry during its last ever week of scheduled public hearings, which is examining the pandemic’s impact on society.<\/p>\n
Grundle, who represents the Northern Ireland Covid Bereaved Families for Justice, said not being able to be with close family members in the final hours and days of their lives \u00ab\u00a0tears us apart\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Milda Grundle was 73 years old when she died in April 2020.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We are all damaged, and damaged beyond repair,\u00a0\u00bb the Coleraine man said.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0This is about impact, and probably the greatest demonstration I can give of that impact is that I go to bed every night and I don’t sleep very well, but when I do, I really don’t care if I wake up in the morning.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
He added: \u00ab\u00a0That is the impact of what has happened – of how we have been damaged. That is the mental impact of that, and that also goes into the physical side of things because we are suffering with physical health issues as well.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Many of us, and I include myself in this, because of our experience with hospitals we don’t want to see healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We put things off because of how we were treated in the aftermath of our loved ones’ deaths – we don’t want to deal with them.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Grundle said members of his group had been told things by healthcare staff that \u00ab\u00a0were not true\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
He also said a nurse had attempted to persuade him to have his mother’s body cremated, which he said was \u00ab\u00a0not in a nurse’s remit\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Grundle said that when his mother was admitted to hospital in April 2020, she was \u00ab\u00a0immediately put under pressure to agree to a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) CPR.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0No-one was allowed to go with her… she was alone, very ill, vulnerable and she was really scared about the DNR CPR.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Grundle said he argued with a hospital consultant that his mother should not be subjected to a DNR, adding: \u00ab\u00a0He told me that in his opinion, my mum should have a DNR CPR because she – in his opinion again – she had no quality of life as she used a hoist and had carers.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0This is a definition that fits so many disabled people. I was absolutely shocked.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
A woman who lost her mother during the pandemic said that First Minister Michelle O’Neill must make up for attending the funeral of republican Bobby Storey.<\/p>\n
Marie McArdle’s mother, Ann McIvor, 80, from Moneymore in County Londonderry died at Antrim Area Hospital in May 2020.<\/p>\n
While O’Neill initially said she would \u00ab\u00a0never apologise for attending the funeral of a friend\u00a0\u00bb, she subsequently did apologise for the hurt that had been caused.<\/p>\n
McArdle said she \u00ab\u00a0accepts that apology\u00a0\u00bb but added that \u00ab\u00a0it is how she will work towards implementing the recommendations\u00a0\u00bb and called for care partners to be able to \u00ab\u00a0accompany\u00a0\u00bb loved ones in hospital.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0My mother died the night [former UK Prime Minister] Boris Johnson was partying on Downing Street,\u00a0\u00bb she added.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Michelle O’Neill… allowed for a funeral to be held a couple of weeks after mummy had died – we weren’t allowed any of that.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC’s Action Line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A man whose mother died during the pandemic has told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that he and other relatives who lost loved ones are \u00ab\u00a0damaged beyond repair\u00a0\u00bb. Glen Grundle said his sense of loss was still so great that he now goes to bed every night not caring if he wakes up the next morning. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}