The head of the COVID inquiry has said one word – “loss” – sums up the pandemic, as she promised bereaved families the investigation into how well prepared the UK was for the outbreak “would not drag on for decades”.

Former Court of Appeal judge Baroness Heather Hallett said those who have suffered will be at the “heart” of the independent public inquiry, and pledged she would conduct a “thorough” and “fair” hearing.

Just before a minute’s silence was held for those who lost their lives, she said: “There’s one word that sums up the pandemic for so many, and that is the word ‘loss’.

She opened the inquiry saying she was “determined” that the inquiry “would not drag on for decades”, but insisted it would still be “as thorough as possible” and that the bereaved would be “properly consulted”.

Families have expressed fears they could be sidelined if they are only able to share their experiences through a listening project.

This was established so members of the public can take part without formally giving evidence or attending a hearing, and is due to begin later this year, with the inquiry expected to hold the first evidence hearings for its first module in late spring 2023.

According to its terms of reference, the inquiry will “listen to and consider carefully” the experiences of bereaved families and others affected by the pandemic.

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It “will not consider in detail individual cases of harm or death”, but “listening to these accounts will inform its understanding”.

Baroness Hallett said on Tuesday: “As I’m sure they will understand that does not mean that I can, or should, consult them and the other core participants at every single stage of our preparation – if I did, the inquiry would go on forever.

“But today, I do invite further submissions on the listening exercise and other issues and thereafter we shall of course be listening to the most affected as we design the listening exercise and the commemoration or commemorations.”

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