Whitehall has been ordered to release confidential documents warning that the UK’s health system could not cope with a pandemic. The information commissioner ordered the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to release documents from Exercise Cygnus after it had previously refused. The three-day simulation exercise in 2016 assessed the UK’s ability to cope with an influenza pandemic, but its findings are pertinent to the coronavirus crisis. Lawyers for an NHS doctor, Moosa Qureshi, had made a request under the freedom of information (FoI) act demanding to see the Cygnus report in April last year. The two documents he was seeking deal with how adult social care would cope with a pandemic and how the NHS would “triage” patients – how it would decide on treatments if it was overwhelmed and resources were limited. The DHSC refused to disclose the surge planning documents, citing section 36 of the FoI act, which provides an exemption if disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs. In March 2021, Qureshi’s lawyers challenged the refusal and wrote to the information commissioner saying the decision was part of a “persistent pattern on the part of the DHSC of closing ranks and refusing to disclose documentation relevant to the public’s understanding of the nation’s preparation for and action in response to” the pandemic. The information commissioner assessed the request and has now ordered Whitehall to publish the reports as it found the balance of the public interest favours disclosure. They said the issue of triage concerned “life and death decisions … The commissioner therefore considers that there is a very strong public interest in understanding what considerations the government has made about how a triage system would operate.” Qureshi welcomed the “robust and carefully balanced” decision saying it was an “important milestone” in delivering pandemic transparency. “By refusing to provide a population triage protocol, the Department of Health is arguably transferring blame – and legal liability – from politicians to NHS healthcare workers who have already risked their lives on the frontline. “It’s also failing to clearly define the rights of patients during a pandemic. That has to be unacceptable. It’s time now for our nation to open up a public debate about how best to prepare together for a world of future risks.” The Department of Health and Social Care now has 28 days to appeal against the ICO’s decision.