In the Welsh Parliament this afternoon Welsh Conservatives have led a Debate calling or the Senedd to establish a Wales COVID-19 Inquiry Special Purpose Committee to be established.
The remit of the Committee would be to identify where the UK COVID-19 inquiry is not able to fully scrutinise the response of the Welsh Government and Welsh public bodies to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to undertake an inquiry into the areas identified.
Speaking in this Debate, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood emphasised why an inquiry into the handling of the pandemic is needed, quoting constituents who lost loved ones to Covid and who want answers.
He said:
“Although the UK Government announced an Independent Public Inquiry into its handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the UK in May 2021 and, three months later the Scottish First Minister announced the creation of a Scotland-focused investigation into the impact of Scottish Government decisions on how the pandemic was handled, the Welsh Government has repeatedly denied our requests for an independent public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic in Wales.
“As one constituent told me: ‘I lost my father to Covid-19 in November 2021. He was released from hospital into my care around 4 hours before passing away at home. I have been astounded that the Welsh Government have refused their own inquiry into the handling of the pandemic’.
“After breaking his femur in November 2020, another constituent, Mr John Evans, was ambulanced to Wrexham Maelor Hospital, where he caught Covid after being placed in a ward next to a patient who was continually coughing. He died in June this year, following damage caused by ‘Long Covid’ to his brain stem, spinal column, heart and lungs and the original injury of thigh and leg. As his widow, Mrs Kathleen Evans, stated: ‘there needs to be an Inquiry in Wales as to why, why, why so many people died in Welsh Hospitals. People like John who followed Mr Drakeford’s and the Welsh Government’s guidance and were failed despite doing everything correctly’.
“The Cross-Party Group on Hospices and Palliative Care (Chaired by Mr Isherwood) will shortly launch the report on our Inquiry into ‘Experiences of palliative and end of life care in the community during the Covid 19 pandemic’. We received evidence showing, for example, that healthcare professionals in Wales were more likely to experience medication and staff shortages relative to other areas of the UK. On 28th April 2020, the UK Government announced that COVID testing would be extended to all care home staff and residents in England. In Wales, the First Minister said he saw ‘no value’ in providing tests to everybody in care homes at the time. That was a pivotal moment for Mr and Mrs Hough, who ran Gwastad Hall nursing home in Flintshire. It was not until 16th May 2020 that the Welsh Government brought in blanket testing for staff and care home residents. Five days later, Mr Hough killed himself. Twelve of their residents had died in those first few months of the pandemic. I subsequently asked the First Minister how he justified his continued rejection of the call by care sector professionals for a Wales-specific Public Inquiry.
“Our call for the establishment a Wales Covid-19 Inquiry Special Purpose Committee therefore presents an opportunity for the Welsh Government to show that they are not afraid of accountability to people in Wales.”