Our response to UK Covid-19 Inquiry Module 3 Report on the impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems in the four nations of the UK
We welcome today the publication of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry Module 3 Report, focusing on the impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems, patients and healthcare workers in the four nations of the UK.
The Report acknowledges the scale of the damage to our NHS and the human cost paid by our critical care services, recognising the enormity of the sacrifices made, the human life lost, and the ongoing trauma that is still felt across our critical care services today.
In particular, we’re pleased to see a recognition of the need for increasing capacity in intensive care, improving data collection to streamline resources and for increasing support for healthcare workers.
However, intensive care did not cope; it barely survived. We met the demand solely due to the personal sacrifice of our multi-professional teams. Relying on staff to work punishing hours at a severe cost to their own physical and mental wellbeing is not a marker of resilience or good policy making, but a failure of infrastructure and workforce planning. We cannot, and will not, accept this as an operational baseline for future crises.
Professor Shondipon Laha, President of the Intensive Care Society, says:
“I know from direct personal experience what it took for intensive care units to handle the Covid pandemic. It almost broke us. Six years on since the start of the first national lockdown, intensive care staff are still living with the consequence of what they experienced – the mental and physical exhaustion, the sense of helplessness from our lack of PPE, the fear of coming home and bringing the virus to our loved ones. For days, weeks and months. This is not coping; this is barely making it through, at an enormous human cost.
“We cannot let any future crisis – be it another pandemic or a major conflict – be faced by our critical care services under similar conditions. It is dangerous and inhumane.”
At the Society, we have no intention of standing still on the sidelines. We are working with the British Geriatrics Society to make sure we provide a unified voice for pandemic preparedness, in the hope that those in power will listen to the experts in good time in future.
The UK’s current lack of baseline critical care capacity is no longer just a healthcare issue; it is a national security vulnerability. We hold serious concerns that the UK's intensive care infrastructure currently lacks the surge capacity to face another crisis – be it another global pandemic or war. We can’t let history repeat itself.
We remain universally determined to see our demands for critical care implemented across the UK.
We continue to call for:
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The appointment of a National Critical Care Consultant to work with government and ensure clinical advice and real-time intensive care capacity are integrated into a National Risk Register.
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Investment in a UK-wide, real-time intensive care dashboard for bed occupancy, staffing levels and patient outcomes.
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Protection for the most vulnerable members of our community from the outset.
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Protection and support for our intensive care workforce.
We look forward to working with the Government to turn the brutally harsh lessons of the pandemic into impactful change for our NHS, to make sure a crisis such as this never repeats itself.
