COVID inquiry: RCN questions Matt Hancock

Today (21 November), Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2018 to 2021, appeared before the COVID inquiry to answer questions from various health care associated groups, including the RCN.

We questioned him about the lack of systemic data collection or reporting on deaths, infection rates and self-isolation among the heath and care workforce, which would’ve shown the efficiency of the government’s approach to protecting health care workers in real time. We asked how the government made sure it was aware of the full impact the pandemic was having on staff working in health and social care settings?

Mr Hancock agreed this data would’ve been a key indicator of the effectiveness of the government’s approach to health care workers and their working conditions. He said that data wasn’t there at the start of the pandemic, but from April 2020 data collection began “when the first significant numbers of deaths were starting to happen”.

He also said that infection rates depended on the availability of tests, and before testing was expanded significantly it was harder to identify infection rates among hospital staff.

The public hearings for Module 3 of the UK COVID-19 Inquiry will run until 28 November. We’ve presented evidence as a core participant, as the inquiry examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care systems in the 4 nations of the UK. The focus is on the governmental and societal response to COVID-19 as well as dissecting the impact the pandemic had on health care systems, patients and health care workers.

Take the opportunity to have your say: share your experience of working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with Every Story Matters. There’s a separate listening exercise in Scotland where there is a nation-specific inquiry taking place. RCN members can also share experiences via our SenseMaker tool.