Covid inquiry: Doctors felt like “disposable commodities” during pandemic, says BMA chair

Doctors felt overwhelmed, frightened, undervalued, and disposable during the covid pandemic, the BMA’s chair of council has told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

Appearing before the inquiry on 28 October, Philip Banfield was asked whether the medical profession as a whole had felt overwhelmed, both personally and professionally, during the pandemic.

“The feedback that we’ve had is that many people did feel overwhelmed—sickness rates went up, and that sense of burnout lasts to this day. We’ve seen a large number of people leave the service early because of the effects of that,” said Banfield.

He added that doctors had been exposed to the virus more readily than the general public, many had died, and many hundreds had acquired long covid. He said that many doctors on the front line had been “frightened of what was about …