A public inquiry into the epidemic will begin 10 weeks of hearings on Monday, looking at the impact on patients, healthcare workers and the wider NHS.

UK coronavirus patients have been admitted to hospital more than 1 million times since the virus emerged in 2020, while countless other patients have had their care for other conditions disrupted.

this Phase 3 investigation The impact on NHS staff, the use of masks and PPE in hospitals, policies to protect the most vulnerable and long-term coronavirus treatments will also be looked at.

For the first time, the stories of more than 30,000 healthcare workers, patients and relatives will form part of the evidence.

BBC News spoke to some of them.

"It's absolutely horrific. We're really struggling and having to hunt for masks and gloves everywhere," said Mandy Masters, a community midwife from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

She said that in the early stages, the NHS was "working in the dark" as the virus spread from China to Italy and then to the UK.

Mandy later contracted COVID-19 herself - something she was convinced at work - and ended up spending three weeks in hospital on oxygen.

"My husband took me to the emergency room but had to leave me there and walk away," she said.

“There was news about how many health professionals were dying from Covid, but I was too ill to care at the time,” she said.

"Looking back, I have to admit, it was pretty scary."

Mandy, 62, has now returned to work part-time but still struggles to catch her breath after a short walk.

Every cold or chest infection “wipes her out,” and she “feels sad for who I was before COVID.”

The third part of the public inquiry into COVID-19 will look in detail at the impact on healthcare workers.

It will also cover:

• Diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 and long-term COVID-19 patients
• Masks, personal protective equipment and hospital infection control
• Policies to protect the most clinically vulnerable
• Use your GP, ambulance and NHS 111 helpline
• Maternity and Hospice Care
• NHS staffing, including use of private hospitals and temporary 'Nightingale' sites

It must look at the impact on the wider healthcare system, including pandemic-induced delays and dramatic increases in waiting lists.

Lynda Ross, from Portadown, was booked in for spinal surgery in early 2020.

Her surgery was cancelled, and when she returned to see a specialist, she was told it was too late for treatment.

"The consequence of this is that I have to live with a level of pain that puts me on the same medications as people who die from cancer," she said.

"It feels like the rest of my life is ruined."

More than 50 witnesses are expected to give evidence over the next 10 weeks, including scientists, medical experts, medics and politicians.

Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, which represents more than 7,000 relatives, said it was "deeply concerned" that only two of the 23 witnesses it put forward had been called to court.

“Without our input, the survey would have gone the way it did during the pandemic in that it didn’t take into account the lived experiences of ordinary families,” said spokesperson Rivka Gottlieb.

The survey said it did allow the public Contribute online Its Every Story Matters project has so far hosted 20 different face-to-face events in town centers across the UK.

The stories of more than 30,000 staff, patients and relatives have been compiled into a 200-page written record that will be entered into evidence on Monday.

Inquiry secretary Ben Connah said the document could not replace one-on-one testimony but it did allow a number of people to provide information anonymously - "some of whom did not want to give formal evidence in a court that was frankly horrific" .

The public inquiry, potentially one of the most expensive in legal history, has been divided into nine different parts, each of which will hear evidence from witnesses and report on its findings separately.

Baroness Hallett, who is chairing the inquiry, has gathered evidence on pandemic planning and political decision-making, with future sections expected to cover the vaccine rollout, the care sector, test and trace, the impact on children and the economy.