The impact of the Covid pandemic on the NHS, which was already under significant pressure, was profound and enduring. The findings set out in the Covid inquiry report are distressing, but not surprising (NHS was ‘on brink of collapse’ during pandemic, Covid inquiry finds, 19 March). The impact on patients and staff was immeasurable.
The “precarious position” that the NHS was in before the pandemic was the result of neglect – and not just towards the NHS itself. For decades, the social care sector has operated in the shadow of the NHS: vital to the nation’s wellbeing, yet chronically underfunded and undervalued. Social care, being ill-prepared and ill-supported, could not act as the resilient partner the NHS needed at a moment of crisis.
