Healthcare systems need an ‘always on’ approach to pandemic-readiness – expert

John Bell explained that having not experienced a pandemic in recent history, when covid-19 hit, there was a lack of existing expertise as to how to get through it.

When Covid-19 hit, there was a lack of existing expertise, Sir John Bell told the Rhodes Policy Summit (Peter Byrne/PA)

Healthcare systems across the world should prepare for future pandemics with an “always on” approach to response-readiness, an expert has said.

John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford, told the inaugural Rhodes Policy Summit that starting from scratch would be very difficult and that having a continuous system in place was necessary.