North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has raised concern with the First Minister that five years on from the pandemic, not one single COVID care home death in Wales has been investigated.
Mr Isherwood raised the matter in today's meeting of the Welsh Parliament when questioning the First Minister over the support the Welsh Government provides for care homes.
He said:
"COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru advise that when they met the then First Minister, Mark Drakeford, in August 2022, he offered to investigate all COVID care home deaths in Wales. Having repeatedly chased this, they were advised that there would be no investigation after all and, instead, ‘a good practice guide for the Care Home Sector’ had been produced.
"When, in light of Module 6 of the UK COVID-19 inquiry, they followed up on the efficacy of this form and what had been learned, responding correspondence stated instead that the ‘Welsh Government does not collect feedback on the guide. The guidance is advisory and care home providers may use it at their discretion’. There is, therefore, serious concern that, after five years, it seems that not one single COVID care home death in Wales has been investigated, and that no-one from the Welsh Government has sought any feedback on the guide review form or the lessons learned.
"So, what, if any, feedback has been gathered on the guide review forms from the nursing and care homes who received them, and when, if ever, will a Learnings report on this be published?"
Responding, the First Minister said:
"The Public inquiry has recently reported on Module 2B, which gave an insight into how we dealt with it in Wales. There's a specific module in relation to care homes, and that clearly hasn't reported yet. So, there will be recommendations that come out of that, and the Welsh Government will clearly need to respond to those in due course."
Speaking outside the meeting, Mr Isherwood said:
"Yet again, a Labour Welsh Government is dodging accountability, failing to learn lessons for the future and kicking awkward truths into the long grass, putting self-interest before public need.”
