He said he agreed with the recent landmark Darzi report that found the NHS was left vulnerable to the pandemic following a decade-long funding squeeze under the Tories
Sir Chris Whitty told the Covid-19 Inquiry Britain had “very low” intensive care capacity going into the pandemic.
England’s Chief Medical Officer warned the UK faced an “absolutely catastrophic situation” as it headed towards the first lockdown. Professor Whitty, who is usually carefully not to criticise politicians, said: “The UK has a very low ICU capacity compared with most of our peer nations.
“Now that’s a choice, that’s a political choice. Therefore, you have less reserve when a major emergency happens.”
He said he agreed with the recent landmark Darzi report that found the NHS was left vulnerable to the pandemic following the decade-long funding squeeze under the Tories.
When asked whether the UK should now bolster bed and staff numbers in ICU, Prof Whitty replied: “There are strong arguments for that.”
