Covid: Wales-specific inquiry call from grieving son

A man whose parents both died in the pandemic has said there needs to be a Wales-specific Covid public inquiry.

James Heaton, 43, from Pontypridd said "lessons need to be learnt" to prevent others going through the "sheer hell" he has been through.

Wales' first minister said his government's decisions should be scrutinised in a UK-wide inquiry.

The Conservatives and Plaid Cymru said they would call a Wales inquiry if they were in power after May's election.

The older people's commissioner Helena Herklots said a Wales inquiry as well as a UK one would be "useful" as it could provide "additional scrutiny".

But the British Medical Association said "Welsh actions" had been dependent on UK policy and should be "assessed in the round" as part of a UK inquiry.

Mr Heaton's parents, Frank and Ann Heaton, died within weeks of each other last autumn.

He described them as a "very happy, self-contained couple," adding that it was rare to see "one without the other".

Frank, 74, developed mild pneumonia in September.

Mr Heaton said his father was "persuaded" by another doctor to go into the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant.

Five days later he was "rallying well" and his discharge from hospital was being planned.

But his condition then declined and he died the following Wednesday, 11 days after going into hospital, and his primary cause of death was Covid-19.

Mr Heaton said he believed his father caught the virus in hospital and that hospital-acquired infections are one area a public inquiry should scrutinise.

"The overall rate was so low but it seemed to go very high very quickly in that particular hospital," he said.

"Why did some particular areas get such a high infection rate at a time when the overall infection rate was so low?

"Was it assumed with the low infection rates in late summer we were on top of it and it was dying out?

"What could have been done to prevent this?"

Just over a week after Frank's death, Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board said 25 people had died with Covid after an outbreak at the Royal Glamorgan, a figure which later rose significantly.

Greg Dix, director of nursing, midwifery and patient care at the health board, said it apologises to "anyone who has felt let down".

He said: "With the close support of public health and infection control teams during the Covid-19 outbreak at Royal Glamorgan Hospital late last year, we were able to get a greater understanding of the virus and strengthen our infection control measures even further.

"Last week we confirmed there were no active adult cases of the virus in the hospital, but we continue to be extremely vigilant with robust risk assessments, regular reviews of infection prevention and control measures, and increased testing of our staff and patients."

Mr Heaton's mother Ann, 75, died the following month of frailty of old age and a urinary tract infection.

Although Covid was not her cause of death, she did catch the virus back in May when there was an outbreak at her care home, something which her son said left her "brutally weakened".

He said he suspects the cause may have been "the notorious discharge of untested patients to care homes", and added that while the care home managed the outbreak "really well", his mum "never fully recovered".

"While it doesn't say Covid on her death certificate I'm in absolutely no doubt it shortened her life."

More than 1,700 people were transferred from hospitals to care homes in Wales in March, April and May of last year, including 53 who had tested positive for Covid in the 15 days before their discharge.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said in November further analysis was needed before conclusions were drawn on the impact those transfers had.

Mr Heaton said what happened to his parents illustrates the need for a Wales-specific public inquiry, "ideally this year".

"We need to learn the lessons of what went wrong this time to prevent others going through the sheer hell I have been going through for the last five months.

"I think there should be a Wales-specific inquiry.

"The two reasons for that being, I think the Welsh experience would be a very small part of the whole UK inquiry.

"And with health being a devolved matter and with the Welsh NHS being a separate body reporting to the Senedd, we need to look at what was done differently in Wales and what could have been done differently in Wales.

"Learn from any successes that came from Wales doing [things] differently and also learn from any failings that came from Wales doing [things] differently."

The older people's commissioner for Wales Helena Herklots said a Wales-specific inquiry would be "useful" as well as a UK-wide one.

"Given the role that the UK government has played in determining many aspects of Wales' response to the pandemic, a UK-wide inquiry would be helpful in examining the questions that people are raising.

"However, as many decisions have been made in a devolved context, a Wales-specific inquiry would also be useful in providing additional scrutiny and exploring particular issues in greater detail."

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Group - which has threatened the UK government with legal action unless it launches a judge-led public inquiry - told BBC Wales it was "right" that a Wales inquiry is also held.

A spokesman for the group said: "We'd welcome inquiries from each part of the UK - they can each provide a specific lens through which to view the failures that got us here."

But the British Medical Association's Welsh council chair Dr David Bailey said an inquiry should be UK-wide.

"Whilst decisions on lockdown and testing have been made at devolved levels, issues that have occurred with the supply of PPE and vaccine testing have mainly occurred at UK level and SAGE and JCVI advice to governments have also spanned across all four nations," he said.

"Welsh actions have all been dependent on UK policy, it's reasonable to judge independent decisions by nations on their merits but most are inextricably linked and should be assessed in the round."

A Welsh government spokesman said: "We have always made clear that a public inquiry should be held.

"However, quite apart from the fact that we are still in the middle of a global pandemic, so much of what has happened in Wales has been linked to the wider UK picture.

"There would be little point in holding an inquiry that failed to consider many of these cross border issues."

You can see more on this story tonight on Wales Live at 22:35 on BBC One Wales.