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During the Covid pandemic, the NHS in England nearly ran out of gowns and protective equipment, according to former health secretary Matt Hancock’s testimony to the Covid inquiry. Although there was no “national shortage” of PPE, it did run out in some areas, leaving some healthcare workers without adequate protection. Hancock acknowledged that this was “awful” and stated that lessons must be learned from what went wrong, including the need for better stockpiles in the future.
The two-day inquiry is investigating the impact of Covid on healthcare across the four UK nations. On Thursday, Baroness Hallett, the inquiry chair, had to request that bereaved families in the gallery lower photographs of their deceased loved ones because they were causing a disturbance.
During the inquiry, Hancock was questioned about the pressures placed on hospitals earlier in the pandemic. Hancock admitted that he was “petrified” in March 2020 that the new lockdown rules might not be stringent enough to prevent a healthcare crisis. Despite the fact that some hospitals struggled, the larger NHS system was never overwhelmed. Hancock was also asked about Suzie Sullivan’s case, who died of Covid in 2020. Her father said that she was “left to die” due to her disability. Although a bed in intensive care was not available for everyone who needed it at the pandemic’s height, Hancock stated that the NHS avoided overall rationing of care, which would have occurred if the virus had been out of control.
Hancock defended the government’s “Stay Home, Save Lives, Protect the NHS” messaging and alluded to the fact that he had to “ruffle some feathers” to protect the NHS from political interference. According to Hancock, political appointees in Number 10 caused “incredible difficulties” in rolling out Covid testing. Although certain restrictions, such as visitation restrictions and restrictions on non-Covid medical services, may have gone too far, Hancock believed that the government, “on balance,” got the rules “about right.
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