Joint response to the Module 1 Report of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry

Joint statement from the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and the Association of Anaesthetists

The first report of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry highlights the many issues caused by failing to plan effectively for a pandemic. We welcome the recommendations it makes to ensure we are better prepared in future and urge the Government and health services leaders to use the lessons learned and enact these recommendations as soon as possible.

As Core Participants in Module 3 – the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare system – we are all too aware of how much impact the issues highlighted in the report had on the functioning on the health service. The oral evidence sessions for Module 3 start in September and we’re busy preparing for these to make sure the experiences of anaesthetists and intensivists during the pandemic are fully represented.