Keep Our NHS Public (KNOP) is hosting a People's Covid Inquiry, chaired by the renowned barrister Michael Mansfield who has fought for people's rights on many occasions, including the Lewisham People's Commission of Enquiry into the proposals to close Lewisham hospital's A&E, maternity and children's services in 2013.

The People's Covid Inquiry issued a statement pointing out: "With more than 100,000 deaths from Covid-19 we believe the public deserves to know how and why this has happened. ... Learning the right lessons is urgent if lives are to be saved. Our 'People's Covid Inquiry' will examine what has happened and how well the NHS was prepared. A powerful body of work will be developed to help understand how best to restore the NHS, public health and social care to the quality public services essential to look after people and keep them safe, both now and in the future."

Dr John Puntis, co-chair of KONP, said: "We believe an inquiry into the handling of the pandemic is needed now. The virus continues to spread and mutate and will not be stopped quickly by vaccine roll out. A change of course is needed if further loss of life is to be reduced. Since Government won't do this until it's too late, it falls upon campaigners and ordinary people to take this into their own hands.

"We support the many demands for a full public investigation. Our initiative isn't a substitute for this, but a way to draw attention to the pressing nature of the situation and provide a body of work that will give weight to calls for an official inquiry into what has been done right and what actions might have led to better outcomes.

We will focus on how our NHS could have been better prepared to deal with the scale of this pandemic. By also scrutinising government policies before and during the crisis we aim to make recommendations on how a strengthened NHS could care for us and keep us safe in the future. We hope you'll tell us your stories, attend the inquiry sessions and invite others to come along too."

The Inquiry is being held in eight fortnightly zoom sessions, four of which have already been held. All proceedings of the sessions which have been held are on the KONP YouTube channel (Keep Our NHS Public - YouTube)

• How well prepared was the NHS?
• How did the Government respond?
• Is "Zero Covid" possible?
• Impact on the population (1 of 2) - Including families, social care, disability
• Impact on frontline staff and key workers
• Inequalities and discrimination
• Privatisation of the Public's Health
• Impact on the population (2 of 2) - Mental health and impacts on schools, children and young people

For more details, and how to register to participate, see the website of the People's Covid Inquiry:

https://www.peoplescovidinquiry.com/

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