Covid inquiry told top NHS doctor was terrified

The astir elder doc successful NHS England has said helium was "personally terrified" that hospitals could person been overwhelmed successful the aboriginal stages of the pandemic.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis told the Covid enquiry officials had drawn up a draught papers advising whose attraction should beryllium prioritised if the NHS recovered itself incapable to header with the surge successful patients.

The 'Covid-19 determination tool' assigned points based connected a patient's age, frailty and underlying conditions. A precocious people meant they mightiness not beryllium admitted to intensive attraction if services were overwhelmed.

The instrumentality was ne'er issued publicly, aft it became wide infections mightiness person already reached a highest successful March 2020.

Sir Stephen, who inactive serves arsenic nationalist aesculapian manager astatine NHS England, said the elder clinicians who were asked to gully up the plans astatine abbreviated announcement "did a magnificent job" that "nobody ever wants to do".

"But it became perfectly wide to maine that this was going to beryllium controversial, [and] that it hadn't had the accidental to beryllium discussed much wide with diligent groups, [or] with the public," helium added.

The draught papers advised doctors to people Covid patients based connected 3 criteria, utilizing a frailty scale.

It elaborate however those with a full people of much than 8 points should not beryllium admitted to intensive attraction if services became overwhelmed.

Patients aged 70 to 75 were to beryllium automatically assigned 4 points, portion those aged implicit 80 would person six.

Extra points would beryllium added for chronic conditions, specified arsenic bosom illness oregon diabetes.

People who were terminally ill, with a beingness expectancy of little than six months, would automatically beryllium fixed 9 points.

Sir Stephen said enactment connected the guidance papers had started aboriginal successful the pandemic, astatine a clip erstwhile the fig of patients successful intensive attraction successful England was doubling each 5-7 days.

"It was not wide that the nationalist would respond to lockdown - they did wonderfully - but that wasn't wide [at that point]," helium said.

"Frankly, I was personally terrified that the NHS was going to beryllium overwhelmed."

The task was halted connected 28 March 2020, aft it became wide the highest of the archetypal Covid question was approaching and the wellness work would not "breach capacity".

Sir Stephen said determination was besides a information the point-scoring strategy could person been "used inappropriately", replacing the idiosyncratic objective judgement of doctors.

"My proposal to the enquiry is that we should absolutely, successful the future, not effort and make 1 of these tools successful the midst of a pandemic," helium added.

He said it was a portion of enactment that needed to beryllium carried retired successful consultation with the nationalist "in mean times".

"In my view, it's a treatment that shouldn't beryllium government-led, it shouldn't adjacent beryllium led by the profession, it needs to beryllium located wrong society."