For Caring People, the Covid Inquiry Hits Hard

We’ll start by saying this isn’t a post to diminish the impact of PTSD or psychological trauma. Quite the opposite. For many of us in the health and social care sector, watching the coverage of the Covid-19 Inquiry feels like reliving a trauma we’ve spent the past few years quietly carrying — and, for some, trying to gently patch back together. The emotional toll, the moral distress, the sheer weight of what we saw and did during those months — it hasn’t gone away. And now, with each headline and soundbite, it’s being pulled back to the surface.

It’s not just the operational nightmares — the rotas that wouldn’t hold, the PPE that arrived faulty, the guidance that changed by the hour. It’s the silent weight we all carried while holding our teams together, trying to reassure the people we supported, and attempting to survive it all personally too.

Reading about what went wrong, hearing political posturing, and watching the inquiry unfold can feel like salt in the wound. Many of us knew things were wrong in real-time, but we still had to show up and keep going. Some of us still haven't processed what happened, and now we’re reliving it, headline by headline.

And it’s not just managers. Every role — from the night shift carer working 14 days straight, to the HR team trying to plug impossible staffing gaps, to the chefs cooking extra meals for colleagues who couldn’t get out to shop — felt it.

What we wonder now is: what difference would a space like Peopleoo have made?

A space where people could say, "WTF are you doing about this?" without fear of judgement.
Where someone could share a moment of kindness they received at the end of a relentless shift.
Where people could ask for advice at 2am, and be met with support, not silence.
Where care workers, nurses, therapists, family carers — all caring people — could have felt recognised, not invisible.

A place for caring people — paid or unpaid — to say, "This is what I’m facing today. What the actual hell do I do?"
A place for someone else, equally knackered and barely holding it together, to reply, "You’re not alone."
A place where your effort — not just your outcome — was seen. Celebrated. Shared.

The pandemic showed us that caring people were the backbone of our communities. But it also showed how invisible that work could feel, how lonely it could be, and how easily voices from care settings were drowned out in national conversations.

That’s why we built Peopleoo.
Not to erase the past, but to build a better future — one where recognition, support and connection happen daily. Not just when the worst happens.

We’ll never forget what happened during those months and years. But we do believe we can build something better now. A space for daily recognition. A space for real conversations. A space that doesn’t wait for an inquiry to ask the right questions or show that what you did mattered.

Peopleoo is here to make sure those who care never have to feel quite so alone again.

💬 “It’s like watching it all unfold again.”

The Covid Inquiry is bringing back tough memories for people in care. For many, it’s not just history — it’s psychological trauma they’re still living with.

Let’s talk about it.
Let’s see the carers.
Let’s build the space they always deserved. 💛

Join Peopleoo today — the community where carers talk, share, and change the language of care for good.