Unions representing frontline NHS workers are urging former Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock not to use his appearance at the Covid inquiry today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday) to downplay the devastation caused to the NHS, staff and patients during the pandemic.

Throughout his engagement with the inquiry*, Mr Hancock has repeatedly said the NHS was never overwhelmed and care was never rationed, despite evidence from health staff who worked during the pandemic, and large swaths of NHS procedures were suspended in 2020.

Today the British Medical Association (BMA) and Trades Union Congress (TUC) are urging Mr Hancock to put the public interest ahead of his personal reputation and be transparent about the extent to which services have been pushed beyond their limits due to poor planning and decision. and the impact this has had on staff and patients.

Honesty, they say, is the least their members – who have provided vital, life-saving care throughout the pandemic – deserve.

Professor Philip Banfield, Chairman of the BMA Council, said:

“To triumphantly and repeatedly say that the NHS has not been overwhelmed and that this has been a great success for itself and for the government is incredibly infuriating for our members who have worked on the frontline during the pandemic – and towards to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for preventing the total collapse of the health service.

“This shows a former health secretary who was completely detached from what was happening on the ground.

“Huge amounts of health care were rationed and patients who would normally have received treatment outside of a pandemic did not receive it. Vast swaths of care have been canceled to make way for all but the most urgent Covid cases. This included many cancer treatments. This is the very definition of rationing.

“During this time, many people stayed away from hospitals and died at home.

“Our members – doctors who worked day and night to care for their patients – often complained about their inability to provide the level of care they knew patients needed and were trained to provide. Staffing ratios have been reduced and standards have been reduced to meet sheer demand. Doctors and our colleagues were overwhelmed, physically and emotionally, and still bear the mental scars of this moral injury today.

“This situation, where care was rationed and staff pushed to their limits, was the direct result of a failure both in pandemic preparedness and in resourcing the NHS and public health services over the decade previous, as well as decisions taken once Covid is over. -19 has arrived. If different choices had been made, the situation would not have been so dire.

“Mr Hancock needs to ditch the soundbites and be transparent with the public. He owes it both to the public and to health professionals. Only by being honest about the past can we hope to make real changes for the future.

Kate Bell, deputy general secretary of the TUC, said:

“NHS staff have risked their lives to help us through the pandemic.

“What they deserve at least from Matt Hancock is honesty and accountability.

“The former Health Secretary must make clear the preparedness and resilience of our health service when Covid hit.

“This inquiry gathered extensive evidence of how the NHS was compromised after years of underfunding.

“Mr Hancock must explain the policy decisions he and other ministers took before and during the virus.

“He must put the needs of the nation before those of his reputation. This is how we can learn lessons and be prepared to face future pandemics. »

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