Nhs Hours From Ppe Running Out In Covid - Hancock

The NHS successful England came wrong “six aliases 7 hours” of moving retired of gowns and different protective instrumentality during nan Covid pandemic, Matt Hancock has said.

The erstwhile wellness caput was giving grounds for nan 3rd clip astatine nan Covid inquiry, astir nan effect connected healthcare systems.

He stated location was ne'er a “national shortage” of PPE for healthcare workers but “in immoderate places, they did tally retired - and it was awful”.

Asked astir reports that immoderate nurses had to deterioration binbags early successful nan Covid crisis, he said nan NHS needed to “learn nan lessons of what went wrong” and put successful spot “better stockpiles” for nan future.

Mr Hancock - who was wellness caput astatine nan commencement of nan pandemic successful 2020 - will beryllium giving grounds complete 2 days, arsenic nan enquiry investigates nan effect connected nan NHS and healthcare crossed each 4 UK nations.

On Thursday, nan inquiry’s chair, Baroness Hallett, had to occasionally interrupt nan proceeding to show bereaved families successful nan nationalist assemblage - immoderate of whom were intelligibly highly affectional - to little photographs of their deceased relatives.

Earlier, nan erstwhile MP faced robust questioning astir nan compression connected accommodation galore hospitals had endured astatine nan highest of nan 2 astir important waves of Covid.

In March 2020, Mr Hancock said he was “petrified” recently announced lockdown rules mightiness not beryllium stringent capable to debar a repetition of scenes successful bluish Italy, wherever immoderate Covid patients had struggled to entree immoderate care.

But while immoderate hospitals successful England came nether “extraordinary pressure”, nan wider NHS strategy was ne'er overwhelmed, he added.

Mr Hancock was past asked astir nan lawsuit of Suzie Sullivan, who died of Covid successful 2020.

Medical notes written astatine nan clip stated Suzie was not suitable for a transportation to intensive attraction owed to a pre-existing bosom information and having Down's syndrome. Her father, John, told an earlier convention of nan enquiry she was “left to die” because of her disability.

Mr Hancock accepted that a furniture successful intensive attraction could not beryllium recovered for each individual diligent who needed it astatine nan tallness of nan pandemic.

“Of people location was tremendous pressure, and of course, it has consequences,” he said.

He said, astatine times, unit ratios had to beryllium stretched, meaning master captious attraction nurses had to look aft six patients alternatively than springiness nan one-to-one attraction they would successful normal times.

But he added: “What we successfully avoided, was an wide rationing - to say, 'people, according to these characteristics, aren’t going to beryllium cared for'.”

“That’s what would person happened if we had fto nan microorganism get much retired of control.

“Did group get arsenic bully attraction arsenic they would person done successful normal times? Of people not. There was a pandemic,” he told nan inquiry.

Asked astir nan imposed visiting restrictions, which meant immoderate relatives could not beryllium pinch dying family members successful their last hours, and elsewhere, expectant fathers could not be ante-natal scans, he said “on balance” he believed nan authorities sewage nan rules “about right”.

“Where I deliberation we sewage it wrong, for instance, was nan measurement that nan ceremonial guidance was applied connected nan crushed - it wasn’t arsenic had been intended.”

Other witnesses, including nan first curate of Wales, Eluned Morgan, and Scotland’s erstwhile wellness curate Jeane Freeman, person suggested immoderate of those restrictions, aliases they measurement they were implemented, mightiness person gone excessively far.

Mr Hancock besides defended nan government’s 'Stay Home, Save Lives, Protect nan NHS' messaging, saying that it was “literally true” that “if we didn’t extremity nan dispersed of nan virus, nan NHS would beryllium overwhelmed”.

Giving grounds recently, England’s main aesculapian officer, Prof Sir Chris Whitty, said, pinch hindsight, nan authorities did not suceed successful letting nan nationalist cognize nan NHS was still unfastened for non-Covid patients during nan pandemic.

Mr Hancock alluded to really he had had to “ruffle immoderate feathers” to protect nan NHS from governmental interference.

He said he felt it was his occupation to “shield” nan wellness work from “people being difficult successful Number 10”.

Some of nan interference by governmental appointees successful Downing Street caused “incredible difficulties” erstwhile it came to rolling retired Covid testing, he added.