COVID-19 is one of the most significant threats our country has faced in modern times. The prime minister has gone as far as to compare it to a wartime event. But war, and events like it, always requires a change in the social contract. The first world war had ‘homes fit for heroes’; the second world war ‘from cradle to grave’. COVID-19 must see similar intervention: ‘care fit for carers’.

This report provides new evidence on the experience of the healthcare workforce during COVID-19 to date – from IPPR/YouGov polling of healthcare workers and the general public; an IPPR consultation; and from literature review. It shows that without further bold action in the days, weeks and months to come by the UK government and NHS England (and the NHS in the rest of the UK) the country’s healthcare workforce will face significant health, mental health and welfare challenges.