The opportunity to begin rebuilding the NHS should not be lost

Many thousands of words have been expended on assessments of the United Kingdom’s response to the covid pandemic, most recently in the first report from the independent public inquiry chaired by Heather Hallett.1 The challenge now is to learn from what did, and did not, work during the response and identify the changes required to ensure the United Kingdom is better prepared for the next national emergency.An important starting point is to recognise that excess deaths during the pandemic were higher in the United Kingdom than in most western European countries.2 This can be explained by poor underlying health in the population and longstanding inequalities in health, among other factors. An urgent requirement is to agree actions to tackle the wider determinants of health across government and to support the NHS to prevent illness where feasible. Public health funding for local authorities must be increased and local partnerships between the…
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