The Covid-19 Public Inquiry will give its verdict on how the healthcare system coped in the face of the deadly coronavirus and the harrowing impact on patients and staff
The harrowing impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the NHS is to be laid bare today in a new report.
The Covid-19 Public Inquiry will today give its verdict on how the healthcare system coped in the face of the virus and the impact on patients and staff. Campaigners warn Britain is less prepared for a pandemic now than in 2020 before Covid emerged and are demanding the findings form a blueprint to increase capacity in the NHS.
The module saw health leaders break down while giving powerful testimony including a senior medic who broke down in tears as he described scenes “from hell” on intensive care wards.
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Professor Kevin Fong – former national clinical adviser in emergency preparedness, resilience and response at NHS England – told how staff were running out of body bags and sick patients appeared to be “raining from the sky”. He said the scale of death on intensive care units was “truly astounding” and how one hospital he visited was close to collapse.
Former chief nursing officer for England Dame Ruth May described how the NHS in England went into the pandemic with 40,000 fewer nurses than it needed.
In a statement, Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice said: “The Module 3 report must not pull its punches. Years of austerity left the NHS dangerously exposed before Covid ever arrived, without the capacity, resilience or headroom needed to cope with a major shock.
“Many of our loved ones died in horrific conditions because ministers failed to strengthen the health service when they had the chance. The report must make clear that restoring funding and capacity is now a matter of national urgency. We are less prepared now than we were in 2020, and unless that changes, more lives will be put at risk when the next crisis comes.”
The biggest public inquiry in British history has been hearing from witnesses for two-and-a-half years. Previous modules found that Boris Johnson ’s pandemic government cost thousands of lives by acting too late.
Baroness Hallett concluded the Partygate PM presided over a “toxic culture” as bereaved families accused his government of a “catastrophic mishandling” of the pandemic. She said 48% of deaths during the first wave – 23,000 of people who died – could have been avoided if lockdown had been brought in just a week earlier.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice statement continued: “The inquiry must not indulge the false claim pushed by Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock that the NHS coped with Covid. It did not. Hospitals were overwhelmed, staff were stretched beyond breaking point, and patients paid the price.”
The inquiry heard that nurses who usually care for some seriously ill patients on a one-to-one basis had to care for up to six, as patient numbers swelled.
Former health secretary Matt Hancock told the inquiry that England’s hospitals were within “hours” of running out of some items of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the early months of the pandemic. Mr Hancock also said he “reluctantly” approved of the decision to pause non-urgent planned care during the pandemic.
The Government prioritised hospital capacity for Covid-19 and emergency patients, and so paused elective (non-urgent) treatment in spring 2020. This led to growing waiting lists and meant thousands of people who needed care for non-Covid reasons had to wait or could not access treatment.
The former MP also defended the Stay Home, Save Lives, Protect the NHS messaging implemented during the pandemic. England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, said officials “didn’t get it across well enough” that people should continue to go to hospital for serious illnesses other than Covid.