The UK's healthcare systems came close to collapse during the Covid-19 pandemic and were saved only by the "almost superhuman" efforts of frontline staff, according to the third report of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry published last week. Trade bodies across the health and care sector are demanding urgent government action on its findings. Baroness Hallett's report, presented to Parliament on 19 March, concluded that the UK entered the pandemic "ill-prepared and with its healthcare systems in a parlous state," citing severe workforce shortages, an ageing hospital estate, insufficient bed numbers and high occupancy rates. Healthcare systems "teetered on the brink of collapse," the report found, surviving only due to the dedication of those working within them. The verdict has drawn a sharp response from the not-for-profit care sector, with the National Care Forum (NCF) arguing the inquiry's framing understates the true scale of failure. "The NHS only 'coped' by shutting out the vast cohorts of people who were receiving care and support - that is not coping, that is prioritising the care of some over others," said NCF chief executive Vic Rayner. "Older and disabled people across a range of different types of care and support were simply not able to access the routine and emergency healthcare they needed." Rayner pointed to a litany of problems reported by NCF members during the pandemic. For instance, patients were not admitted when they should have been, there were delayed or absent ambulances, rushed and unplanned discharges contrary to patients' interests, difficulties accessing clinical expertise, and inadequate guidance for those shielding. The NCF also raised serious concerns about two areas it says the report fails to address with sufficient clarity. On visiting restrictions, Rayner argued that guidance alone is insufficient, calling instead for a statutory right to a "Care Supporter" - a trusted person able to provide advocacy in health and care settings. The campaign, backed by over 100 organisations through Care Rights UK, is known as "Gloria's Law." More starkly, however, Rayner condemned the use of blanket Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) orders applied to people with learning disabilities and older patients without individual assessment or family involvement. "There was no excuse for this practice, and the fact it persisted through the pandemic, despite our warnings, is incredibly concerning," she said, adding that the report's recommendation for a standardised advance care planning process "won't deal with the clear cultural problem" in how the health system treats older and disabled citizens. The wider health lobby echoed many of these concerns. The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers said in a joint response that the inquiry had "confirmed that the NHS entered the pandemic overstretched, ill-prepared, and at points came close to collapse," warning that many of the challenges facing the NHS in 2019 remain unresolved. Other bodies have hit out as well. BMA council chair Tom Dolphin said Baroness Hallett's findings vindicated many of the concerns the BMA had raised both in its evidence to the inquiry and in subsequent lobbying, but warned that the government would need to go beyond the report's ten headline recommendations if the health service is to be ready for a future pandemic. UNISON's Covid lead Sara Gorton was more direct, describing the pandemic as "a shameful story" of an NHS left ill-prepared, leaders who failed to act, and a procurement scandal that saw public money wasted "at a time when staff were giving everything, in some cases their lives." For the not-for-profit care sector, the publication of Module 3 is only the opening chapter. With Module 6 still to come, organisations like the NCF are watching closely to see whether Baroness Hallett will go further than she has so far....