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Covid inquiry first phase ends with shot at ‘critically under-resourced’ NHS

Arguments over NHS funding and future pandemic preparations marked the end of the opening phase of public hearings

By James Harrison
Covid inquiry first phase ends with shot at ‘critically under-resourced’ NHS
Failures in pandemic planning and preparedness hampered the response and placed healthcare workers and patients at increased risk when Covid-19 hit, according to the British Medical Association | Getty
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Scathing warnings over government penny-pinching accompanied the curtain call for the first phase of the UK’s Covid-19 inquiry.

Over 23 days, the review’s opening module into ‘resilience and preparedness’ has heard from current and former ministers, civil servants and health experts on the state of Britain at the start of the outbreak.

But as inquiry chair Heather Hallett prepared to call time on the public hearings until October, arguments once again turned to the amount of money spent on pandemic preparations before coronavirus – and how much might be spent in the future.

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