National medical director of NHS England, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, shared details of the ‘decision-making tool' during evidence to the Covid-19 Inquiry yesterday.

Prof Powis said: ‘Frankly, I was personally terrified, that the NHS was going to be overwhelmed and doctors were going to be placed in a position, and other clinicians, where they would not be able to make the professional judgment that they usually make in terms of treatments and escalation.

‘And in those circumstances, as I had said to the Health Select Committee earlier in March, we and -- I and my clinical colleagues, the CMOs, felt that we should begin to explore a decision tool such as this.'

The decision tool assigned points to patients based on a patient's age, frailty and underlying conditions with those with high scores being excluded from intensive care.

Prof Powis said the plans were dropped on 28 March 2020 when the peak of the pandemic was approaching and therefore it ‘was becoming increasingly clear to me that the peak of the pandemic was approaching and therefore it would not be needed because we would not breach capacity'.

The national medical director said there was a danger the tool ‘could have been used inappropriately', adding: ‘my recommendation to the Inquiry is that we should absolutely in future not try and develop one of these tools in the midst of a pandemic. This is a discussion that has to occur in normal times'.