Covid-19 Inquiry: Disability campaigner lays out care sector issues
The inquiry heard how Fridays soon became known as fabulous Fridays when her dad left treats for her and all those living within her sheltered accommodation including the staff.However, she said the care sector was not treated the same as other areas of health care, which became visible with the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE).At one point, Ms Sansome reached out to contacts at Queen's University Belfast to access PPE when staff in her home did not have enough."It was crazy at that time. I kept thinking of my friends who lived by themselves in their own homes and how they were stuck in bed for days because of the shortages," Ms Sansome told the Inquiry."There were days that you weren't guaranteed a shower or full care. Staff did their best but going forward things like that need to be planned for."Ms Sansome, who flew to London to attend the inquiry in person, described how her laptop became her visual window to the world and how it allowed her to communicate with family and friends.
During the summer of 2020, she attended a daily virtual summer camp for disabled people located in America which she said she had always wanted to go to and, albeit virtually, the pandemic let her do that.She said ensuring those with disabilities could communicate was essential and providing people with tools such as laptops should become part of any future preparation for another pandemic.When asked by counsel to the inquiry how disabled people were treated differently Ms Sansome said when care staff tested positive it affected the entire sheltered dwelling with everyone told to isolate, even if they tested negative.When that happened at Christmas and Ms Sansome was told by the Public Health Agency that she would have to stay alone in her apartment she rang an MLA who intervened.As a result, most of her neighbours were allowed to go home to their families to eat Christmas dinner.Freedom Day 2022 (the end of lockdown rules on 19 July 2022) according to Ms Sansome was not freedom day for all as restrictions were not lifted for those who were clinically vulnerable, which Ms Sansome said was unfair.Ms Sansome said she felt the announcement was made as an election was approaching."The cynical side of me felt it was only announced by politicians to look good," she told the inquiry. "They always said they were following the science, but I was never too sure what was science and what was political spin."
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On the day she collapsed, she had an appointment with an osteopath, Nick Gosset, who described her on Wednesday as 'a young lady who was in the last stages of a very difficult disease' and said he advised she seek medical help. Today, her mother disagreed saying: 'On the morning of July 19 Paloma was well. 'She looks healthy and good colour … she was smiling and laughing, she was not as described yesterday by the osteopath.' Paloma collapsed at home later that day, and her mother called her friend who then called an ambulance while they initiated CPR. On the 999 call played to the court, Ms Shemirani was heard shouting 'she's dying' to the operator before the paramedics arrived. She also told the ambulance operator 'it's difficult to lie her on her front because she has a medicinal mass' in her throat, the inquest heard. In her evidence, Ms Shemirani told the court that when the paramedics arrived they administered adrenaline 'then everything went horribly wrong' following their intervention and her daughter went into 'full circulatory collapse'. 'I knew at this point that they'd done something, given something that had caused this,' she said. Ms Shemirani added: 'She deteriorated catastrophically upon their arrival and their intervention.' Dr Anderson said Paloma received a standard adult dose of adrenaline during the cardiac arrest, and that this was acceptable even given how thin she was at the time. Paloma was taken to Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton on a ventilator, and brain stem death was declared on the afternoon of July 24 2024 after a series of nationally advised medical checks. Ms Shemirani said the decision taken was rushed and said that the brain stem testing was not the same in the UK as it was in the US, and wanted an MRI. Intensivist and anaesthetist Dr Peter Anderson, who was on shift when Paloma died, explained: 'I thought the risk of deterioration and uncontrolled death was extremely high.' Dr Anderson noted that on the 999 call, Ms Shemirani called out Paloma's oxygen saturation which was 'critically low' at 36 then 35. He told the coroner that if Paloma's 'sats' were that low for a significant time then the brain damage was done before the paramedics arrived. Ms Shemirani said: 'We are deeply concerned this inquest is attempting to shift focus on the cause of death.' Later she added: 'We believe this to be an attempt to pervert the course of justice and conceal the cause of Paloma's death.'
