People who died with Covid treated ‘like toxic waste’, families tell UK inquiry

Campaign groups for bereaved in all UK nations said progress of pandemic showed country was not prepared

People who died with Covid were treated like “toxic waste”, bereaved families have told the UK Covid-19 public inquiry as they expressed their determination to channel their “grief, frustration and heartbreak” into making the UK better prepared for future pandemics.

Representatives of campaign groups from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland told the inquiry how widespread infection in hospitals and care homes, failures to use PPE properly, the use of do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation orders and isolation of the vulnerable all showed how the nations were not properly prepared.