And here he breaks down while explaining the absolute trauma experienced by smaller hospitals in particular - the "healthier" ICU patients were transferred out, leaving them coping with so much death. They felt so alone.

Prof @Kevin_Fong giving the most devastating and moving testimony to the Covid Inquiry of visiting hospital intensive care units at the height of the second wave in late Dec 2020. The unimaginable scale of death, the trauma, the loss of hope. Please watch this 2min clip.

Here Prof Fong explains how every nurse he met was traumatised by watching patients die, being only able to hold up ipads to their relatives and how it went against their normal practice of trying to ensure a dignified death, with family there.

Smaller hospitals in particular ran out of drugs, equipment, nurses, PPE. They felt abandoned. There is zero doubt that the NHS was overwhelmed during both of the first two waves. By June 2021 ICU staff described themselves as broken.

Towards the end of his testimony, Prof Fong makes the heartfelt case that to understand the Covid impact on the NHS you have to go *beyond* data - "there is more to know than you can count". His testimony was *so important* /END

This has just broke my heart yet again! How any of those politicians leading this country at this time can look any of us in the eye is beyond me!

Absolutely this. I worked on a ward that took the elderly who weren't considered fit enough for ITU. Just relentless deaths, multiple a day. I think after the first wave I'd personally looked after over 40 patients who'd died in my care.

Our Doctors: 'leaving them coping with so much death' Our Government:

They felt so alone. It's already unimaginable to lose 70% of patients and even more awful somehow because the people risking their own lives and health to provide care felt guilty about it. Those who made terrible public health policy decisions are responsible for this horror.

Yes. Heartbreaking. And the paradox is that we have the IPC and UKHSA leads dismissing all of that, instead they play with words (predominantly or wholly airborne) to save their faces rather than admitting that their superficiality/mistakes made things terribly worse.

Boris Johnson and his cabinet who delayed lockdown should be forced to watch this. They had no bloody idea did they?

This is so moving and devastating - how the hell are covid deniers given airspace. These were desperate times. People worked so hard and did their utmost through an unprecedented pandemic.