People’s Covid Inquiry: Profiteering from the people’s health?

A striking feature of the government’s pandemic response has been the contracting out of Covid-related services to private companies. This has been without the usual tendering processes and without any transparency around contract details including costs. Despite a number of contracts failing spectacularly (e.g. Serco’s contract to run NHS Test-and-Trace) and some pre-Covid contracts such as that with NHS Logistics being exposed as wholly inadequate, public contract funding has been differentially awarded to Conservative party donors and close contacts.

We will hear about the reliance on and scale of private contracts during the pandemic, and the level of pre-pandemic outsourcing and privatisation. How did this contribute to the failures in response?  We will hear about legal challenges on behalf of the taxpayer in relation to Covid contracts. And from staff experience, we will hear about the dangers and anxieties caused by shortages of PPE, and the worries of staff around decisions to outsource contracts.

THE PANEL:

• ​Michael Mansfield QC (chair)
• Professor Neena Modi, Dr. Tolullah Oni
• Dr. Jacky Davis
• Lorna Hackett Barrister (Counsel to the Inquiry)

WITNESSES:

David McCoy | Professor of Global Health Medicine, Institute of Population Health Sciences, QMUL; Centre for Health and the Public Interest

Dr David Wrigley | GP in Carnforth, North Lancs, Deputy Chair of the BMA, co-author of ‘NHS for Sale’ and ‘NHS SOS’

A representative of Foxglove, a group campaigning against secrecy of coronavirus NHS data contracts 

Dr Michelle Dawson | NHS Consultant Anaesthetist, trustee of the Healthcare Workers’ Foundation charity (previously ‘Heroes’)