COVID-19 is still with us. New strains continue to develop, and the NHS is once again on high alert as it anticipates another winter of distress for overwhelmed health services. But, of course, the pandemic will have a much longer legacy.

Thousands continue to battle the debilitating effects of long Covid, in addition to the tragedy of the catastrophic loss of life and the terrible shadow this cast over loved ones.

For our public services, Covid has led to a reckoning. It was clear before the pandemic that hospitals, schools, care homes and other crucial services were already under immense pressure. A decade of savage cuts had caused incalculable damage, with workers in many parts of the public sector on their knees.

But Covid exposed these failings more brutally than anyone could have expected. Austerity has hollowed out our public services in so many ways but crucially it meant Britain was unable to withstand the impact of the pandemic.

Hospitals struggled to cope with the sudden influx of patients. Public health services scrambled to provide the necessary systems to tackle the virus. And, tragically, our care homes descended even further into crisis.

The pandemic also highlighted and exacerbated the inequalities in British society. Poorer households and black people suffered disproportionately from Covid. Those with disabilities were more severely affected, accounting for a shocking 60 per cent of those who died from the disease.

Unison supported the calls for a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic. So it’s good to see that Baroness Hallett’s mission to establish the facts — and to ensure the same errors are not made again — is well underway.

Those who lost close family and friends deserve an explanation from the government about how they handled the pandemic — and how they sought to protect our communities.

The same goes for public service workers. While their strength and commitment helped the country through the crisis, sadly, many paid for this devotion with their lives.

Unison has brought a motion to this week’s TUC highlighting the necessity to learn lessons, fix problems and hold the relevant feet to the fire.

It is essential that workers’ voices are heard in its deliberations. And the TUC has played a strong role in ensuring that the impact of austerity is placed front and centre in the hearings that have already taken place.

Those in power at the time must be held to account. But also the authors of austerity, who repeatedly failed our public services.

Adult social care was among the sectors treated appallingly. The government broke its promise to place a protective ring around care homes, with disastrous consequences.

Staff, and those who depend on social care services, were left exposed to Covid. As workers struggled to come to terms with what was unfolding, not fully sure how the virus was even spreading, they were forced to fashion their own protective kit out of bin bags and anything they could find.

Yet Matt Hancock, the health secretary during some of the grimmest days of Covid, has shown himself to be a master in buck-passing, deflection and evasion of responsibility.

His recent evidence to the inquiry highlighted the lack of political accountability that so many in public office show when the neglect of public services is exposed on their watch.

His claim that he had the title but not the levers to act rings utterly hollow. Experts warn that the world will suffer more pandemics in the decades to come.

So it’s crucial that the right lessons are learned from Covid-19. We cannot afford to make the same mistakes again.