Learning from the UK response to the Coronavirus pandemic (stakeholder groups)

Background

The BMA is beginning a period of engagement with other health and care and public health stakeholders ahead of the public inquiry into the UK response to COVID-19, which is likely to start in Spring 2022 and a public inquiry in Scotland, likely to start before the end of this year.

We want to learn from organisations and individuals, all of which have played such a vital role in the UK’s COVID response. Through this learning process, we will contribute robustly and effectively to public inquiries. We are consulting with:

· Organisations with a role in representing healthcare staff
· Medical professionals
· Healthcare organisations
· Public health organisations
· Other bodies or organisations representing specialist health and care roles
· Other bodies or organisations with specialist knowledge

How to respond to our questions
Our questions cover a breadth of issues relevant to the UK response to COVID but are not exhaustive. Questions are free text, providing scope to respond in a way which is relevant to your organisation or group, or the experiences of your members. If any question is not applicable to your organisation/group, then please leave it unfilled and progress through the consultation to those which are.

Throughout many of our questions we are attempting to learn:

1. The experience of your organisation/members/representatives
2. How your organisation/members/representatives were impacted and what you learned as the situation evolved
3. How the system of health and care and public health can be strengthened for the future

Several of the questions include prompts for the types of considerations you might think relevant to the question. These are only suggestions intended to support you in completing your response.

Your responses will help us to shape our contribution to the public inquiries when they begin, understand what must be done to improve the UK’s response to a future public health emergency, and ensure we have a health, care and public health system which supports the population to remain healthy.

Thank you in advance.