Why was the UK not ready?

Let’s go back to Spanish Flu, 1918-1919 which claimed nearly 50 million lives.

Fast forward to Swine Flu 2009-2010 which killed 200,000 people and since we have had to confront Ebola and MERS, the latter which is still viral today - not to mention common flu which claims as many as 650,000 lives per year.

It is easy to play the blame game and be critical but I think that some governments have been not only slow off the mark to respond to the virus which first came on the radar before Christmas but also caught napping. A virus outbreak, as we have seen over the years, can occur at any time and, in this day and age, spread extremely quickly.

I remember the days when the world was living in fear of a nuclear war and the military were trained in how to respond with special Nuclear, Biological and Chemical warfare uniforms and equipment provided to the armed forces, they were used in the recent wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East amidst fears that chemical weapons were being used. The equipment obviously exists, but why, for example, is the British military testing new incubation stretchers while the British government flaps about desperate to get a proper testing programme up and running? Someone took their eye off the ball I fear.