We’ve seen how the government failed us during the pandemic, now it’s time to experience it’s impact on healthcare workers, patients and the wider NHS.
The Covid inquiry was launched by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in June 2022 and highlighted major government failings in relation to the pandemic. Now, the public inquiry is set to enter its third stage.
Today, Monday 9th September, the inquiry will commence into 10 weeks of hearings looking into how the global pandemic impacted NHS staff, the use of masks and PPE in hospitals, the policy of shielding the most vulnerable and the treatment of long Covid. What’s more, for the first time the tales of more than 30,000 healthcare staff, patients and relatives will form part of the material entered into evidence.
Speaking to BBC News, Mandi Masters, 62, a community midwife from Buckinghamshire, has detailed her experience of working through the pandemic and it’s safe to say it was far from pleasant.
‘It was absolutely horrendous,’ Masters said. ‘We were really struggling, having to scrounge around for masks and gloves.’
On top of having to struggle in silence in the NHS hospital she was based in, Masters also detailed that she later caught the virus – she is convinced at work – and ended up hospitalised and on oxygen for three weeks.
‘My husband took me to A&E but had to leave me there,’ Masters said.
‘The news was coming out on how many health professionals were dying of Covid, but I was just too poorly to care at that point.’
Since the pandemic, Masters has now returned to work part-time, although she still struggles to catch her breath after doing any light exercise.
Over the course of the next 10 weeks, more than 50 witnesses are expected to give stories/evidence similar to Masters’ including scientists, medical experts, health workers and politicians.
Since the public inquiry was launched two years ago it has been theorised it is one of the most expensive in legal history. The inquiry has been split into nine different sections, each of which will hear from witnesses and report findings separately. So far, Baroness Hallett, who is chairing the inquiry, has taken evidence on pandemic planning and political-decision making, but is yet to hear about the vaccine rollout, the care sector and the impact on the economy and children.
Image: engin akyurt
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