Covid-19 inquiry latest: Harrowing impact of pandemic on NHS and patients to be revealed in new report

Evidence to the Covid-19 inquiry will lay bare the gaps and lack of capacity in the UK healthcare system, writes health editor Rebecca Thomas.

Over the last two years, frontline staff, healthcare leaders, and unions have given evidence to the Covid-19 inquiry on the impact of the pandemic on the NHS and its staff.

In its summary of evidence to inquiry, doctors’ union the British Medical Association (BMA) said there was “overwhelming evidence” of shortages in staff, hospital beds, and equipment ahead of the pandemic.

The BMA told the inquiry in 2024, “there is a continued lack of capacity across all healthcare settings to cope with day-to-day care, let alone a pandemic or other health emergency.”

A major theme expected to come up in the report is the difficulties staff had in getting adequate protective equipment, and the BMA pointed to evidence of staffing being forced to wear “makeshift items out of bin bags, ski-masks, swimming goggles or cagoules” while others purchased PPE from DIY stores.

Thursday’s report will be the third published as part of a sweeping inquiry into the way the UK government and NHS handled the Covid-19 pandemic.

Titled ‘The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the healthcare systems of the United Kingdom’ the report will look at:

• The impact of Covid-19 on people’s experience of healthcare

• Core decision-making and leadership within healthcare systems during the pandemic

• Staffing levels and critical care capacity, the establishment and use of Nightingale hospitals and the use of private hospitals

• 111, 999, and ambulance services, GP surgeries and hospitals and co-operation between services

• Healthcare provision and treatment for patients with Covid-19, healthcare systems’ response to clinical trials and research during the pandemic

• Decision-making about the nature of healthcare to be provided for patients with Covid-19

• The impact of the pandemic on doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff

• Preventing the spread of Covid-19 within healthcare settings

• Communication with patients about Covid-19 and their loved ones about patients’ condition and treatment

• Deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, in terms of the numbers, classification, and recording of deaths

• Shielding and the impact on the clinically vulnerable

• Characterisations and identifications of post-Covid conditions

Bereaved families have vowed to continue their fight for justice as the UK Covid-19 Inquiry heard its final witness testimony earlier this month.

You can read the full report below:

The UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry will publish a report on the impact of the virus on patients and staff on Thursday.

It is the third report to be published in the inquiry, which examines how the NHS responded to the crisis.

The report will be published alongside a statement from Baroness Heather Hallett at 12pm.

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 put non-urgent planned care on hold during the pandemic.

The Government prioritised hospital capacity for Covid-19 and emergency patients, and so suspended 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.

The UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry is set to publish a report on Module 3 of its investigations, looking at how the NHS coped in the face of the spreading coronavirus pandemic.

Inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Hallett examined all aspects of the NHS during the crisis.

This included how managers led the pandemic response, the role of primary care and GPs, NHS backlogs and how the vaccine programme was integrated.