Let’s Be Heard – Sharing Scotland’s COVID Experience

Thousands of patients and families recall lost care and support during pandemic

• People who faced disrupted maternity care, mental health support, and home-based care during the pandemic have their experiences recorded in a new publication from the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry
• More than 7,000 people shared their experiences of care and caring during the pandemic – including accounts of delays, isolation and lost support
• Key themes cover maternity care, mental health services, disabled people’s home-based care, and other services disrupted by the pandemic

People who struggled to access healthcare, mental health support and social care during the pandemic have had their experiences detailed in a new Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry publication today.

The experiences of more than 7,000 people – including maternity service users, mental health patients, people who were shielding, and disabled people reliant on home-based care – are reflected in today’s publication, Access to Health and Social Care Services: Voices of Service Users, Family Members, and Professionals. The Inquiry’s Let’s Be Heard project gathered more than 12,500 pandemic experiences through national surveys, workshops, and group discussions held across Scotland and online between 2023 and 2024.

New mothers told Let’s Be Heard about missing antenatal classes, peer support, and losing contact with midwives and health visitors after giving birth. One mother said: “I only realised I had been suffering many months later as we were not visited by any healthcare professionals such as health visitors as you normally would in those first few months. All I got was phone calls which is not the same.”

Some mothers said they found ways to fill the gap themselves. One respondent described setting up an online “lockdown babies’ group” that grew to 30 mothers, meeting in person once restrictions eased. The volume also covers the specific barriers said to be faced by minority ethnic women and asylum seekers in maternity care.

Disabled respondents described the withdrawal of home-based care and day services, with one saying they felt “left behind, like the government didn’t care about disabled and neurodiverse people.” Others said carers stopped visiting without any alternative support put in place.

People who used mental health services described demand for support growing just as services became harder to reach, including those recovering from addiction and eating disorders. One respondent said:

“Mental health resources became impossible to access (they were poor before, but during the pandemic they essentially didn’t exist). On top of two friends who died [by suicide], I know at least a dozen more who suffered significant mental health crises as a result of lockdown restrictions. I was there for them, our mental health services were not.”

The volume also documents delays in diagnosis and treatment, which some respondents believe led to worse health outcomes. A nurse reflected: “We saw people who could have lived die because of delays to their surgeries or screening. People with complex tumours who two years previously would have had simpler disease and treatment.”

The accounts shared with Let’s Be Heard reflect the experiences of those who chose to take part. They do not represent everyone’s experience of the pandemic, and do not predict or anticipate the Inquiry’s eventual findings or recommendations.

This is the third of four thematic volumes of evidence published by Let’s Be Heard, following volumes on financial and welfare support, and education and childcare. A future volume will share experiences of the wider public sector response to the pandemic.

The Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry is examining the devolved response to the pandemic in Scotland between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022. It will report its findings and may make recommendations to Scottish Ministers.

The full publication is available at covid19inquiry.scot.

Anyone affected by the issues raised in this report can find sources of support listed within the publication.