First Covid-19 inquiry report finds ‘glaring failings’ during pandemic | Covid Inquiry

The first official report from the UK’s Covid inquiry is expected to reveal a series of failures by the last Conservative government and health officials in the run-up to the pandemic.

Lady Heather Hallett, chair of the inquiry, will publish the report on Thursday and make recommendations to ensure the UK is better prepared for any future outbreaks.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors’ union, urged Hallett in his initial findings to reflect the “appalling failure” to provide doctors and other healthcare professionals with the required PPE.

The inquiry uncovered a series of failures in pandemic preparedness during the years of austerity under the Conservatives and the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. Former health ministers Matt Hancock and Jeremy Hunt, as well as former prime minister David Cameron, were among those giving evidence to the inquiry.

An expert report by medical historian Claas Kirchhelle for the UK Covid-19 inquiry found that decisions were taken to reduce “UK preparedness stocks” from 2012. This included surgical masks and FFP3 respirators, which offer maximum protection against airborne infections.

Kirchhelle said the government is cutting costs by choosing to buy some ventilators within weeks of a pandemic being declared, rather than keeping them in stock. This is known as “just-in-time” purchasing.

“Relying on [just in time] “Providing essential PPE would provide substantial cost savings,” Kirchhelle’s report said. “However, this approach has also created greater vulnerability in the event of supply chain disruptions.”

According to evidence submitted to the Hallett inquiry, minutes of a meeting on pandemic influenza clinical countermeasures in October 2017 recorded: “The stock of ventilators will need to be replenished in the 2018 financial year. [financial year] 2019/20. Suppliers have been engaged to explore options to further extend stock life and minimise replenishment.

The challenges of urgently sourcing PPE during the Covid-19 pandemic have been compounded by the inability to deliver equipment as expected under just-in-time contracts.

By January 2022, the Department of Health and Social Care had spent £12.6bn on PPE, including contracts with companies designated as “VIP lanes” by Conservative ministers and officials.

The BMA said in its report to the inquiry: “There is no doubt that the provision of PPE to healthcare workers during the pandemic was desperately inadequate, and the task of the inquiry is to determine why this happened, to ensure it does not happen again.” The inquiry is also looking at procurement and is expected to draw conclusions about who is responsible for and why PPE stocks were dwindling.

Hallett will examine whether the risk of a pandemic with the characteristics of Covid-19 could have been foreseen and planned for. Lawyers representing the bereaved families said there was evidence that a “high-impact emerging disease” could have been predicted. Instead, pandemic preparedness in the UK focused on a flu-like pandemic. There were nearly 220,000 deaths from Covid-19 between March 2020 and March 2023.

Bereaved families say austerity policies have strained health services and made it more likely that “even a mild pandemic could overwhelm the system”. They say civilian emergency structures were not fit for purpose and lacked policy, leadership and oversight.

The Department of Health and Social Care has acknowledged that PPE was in short supply during the pandemic, but says the UK has never been out of stock nationally. In a submission to the inquiry, it said: “Covid-19 has been a huge shock to the world. Our resilience as a society has been tested… The department is committed to learning lessons and implementing changes where necessary.”

The Covid inquiry is being split into several inquiries. A second report on “decision-making and political governance” is expected later this year. The inquiry is due to hear evidence from September on the impact of the pandemic on health systems.

Susie Flintham, on behalf of Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said: “We have submitted 71 proposed recommendations that we hope will be included in the inquiry’s report. Bereaved families like mine, who fought for this inquiry to happen, know that the value of the inquiry depends on the strength of the recommendations. The years leading up to this moment have been emotionally draining for all those whose loved ones have been tragically let down by an ill-prepared government, but we know that the inquiry’s recommendations have the potential to save lives in the future, if lessons are learned from our experiences.”