The NHS in the UK was on the brink of collapse during the Covid pandemic, according to the Covid inquiry.
The inquiry's third report, one of 10 due to be published, concluded that the health service "only just coped" with the surge in Covid cases. The long-running inquiry described staff working in "war zones" and patients not getting the care they needed.
Almost 227,000 people died from Covid in the UK between March 2020 and May 2023, when the World Health Organization said the "global health emergency" was over.
Police and Authority Response
According to the report, the NHS faced intolerable pressure as it faced wave after wave of Covid. The cancellation en masse of non-urgent care, such as knee and hip replacements, had a "debilitating effect" on patients' lives and mobility.
Visiting restrictions meant some vulnerable patients, including women giving birth and people with disabilities, were left without vital support – and such tough rules needed to be avoided if possible in the future, the inquiry said.
Investigation Findings
The report highlighted how there was a decline in attendances to A&E and other settings for non-Covid emergencies, including heart attacks, suggesting the slogan Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives inadvertently sent the message health care was closed.
Baroness Hallett, the inquiry chair, said: "We coped, but only just. Collapse was only narrowly avoided thanks to the extraordinary efforts of all those working in health care."
Official Statements
Dr Tom Dolphin, of the British Medical Association, said the failings meant that many staff "tragically paid with their lives". Research has shown health workers had higher excess mortality in the first year of the pandemic than other workers.
A government spokesman said: "The pandemic had a profound and lasting impact across our society, but its effects were felt particularly acutely within the health and social care system."
