Covid in Wales: FM accused of dodging care homes questions

The first minister of Wales has been accused by the Tories of dodging questions over why tests for patients discharged into care homes were delayed at the start of the pandemic.

It comes after the High Court found policies in England on discharging untested patients were unlawful.

Andrew RT Davies questioned in the Senedd why it was not policy to test until two weeks after England.

Mark Drakeford said the ruling found "nothing illegal" in Wales.

He told Senedd members decisions to send untested patients from hospitals to care homes at the start of the pandemic will have to be examined by the UK Covid inquiry.

A solicitor representing 350 families who lost loved ones to Covid has said it is likely they will look to bring legal action against the Welsh government following the High Court ruling.

In England, all patients were tested when discharged from 15 April 2020. But in Wales, the policy change was made a fortnight later.

Senedd Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said Welsh patients were exposed to greater risks because it took Wales two weeks to "catch up" with tests after they were introduced over the border.

In the Senedd, he asked: "Why did the delay in testing happen here in Wales, which the court has now found illegal?"

Mr Drakeford replied: "When the member says that the policy was illegal, what the court discovered was that it was illegal in England, where his party was in charge."

Mr Davies said it showed the need for a Wales-specific inquiry into Covid - something the Welsh government has rejected.

Instead, it says its response to coronavirus should be considered by the UK-wide inquiry, led by Baroness Hallet.

"Is it the case first minister that you are blocking this inquiry happening here in Wales because you have a fear of scrutiny or just arrogance that your position is right?" Mr Davies asked.

Mr Drakeford said: "An independent inquiry focused only on Wales would never be able to make sense exactly the sort of decisions to which he has pointed."

Welsh ministers followed the same advice as the UK government, he added.

"You cannot understand the decisions made in Wales by divorcing those decisions from the UK context, the UK advice, the UK level of understanding at the time and the way that was available here in Wales."

The Welsh government would take part in the Hallet Inquiry into Covid "in the most open way that we can", he said, adding it will "need to explore the point at which it became clear that coronavirus was a disease that could be spread by asymptomatic individuals".

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said the failure to recognise the risk of asymptomatic transmission had "fatal consequences".

"The science of asymptomatic transmission wasn't different here in Wales compared to England," he said.

The first minister said these "absolutely proper issues deserve to be heard in the detail that they would require with the forensic examination that the inquiry will provide".

"And then we will see whether the decisions that were made here in Wales in the state of knowledge at the time, with the evidence and advice that we had available to us, whether those decisions were defensible or not."

Following the discussion Mr Davies said: "Giving answers clearly isn't a strong point of the first minister as he also dodged questions today on Labour's refusal to hold a probe and why they delayed care home testing."

Adam Price added: "The first minister acknowledges the level of exhaustive analysis and evidence that went into that specific question that the families in England have now had through the High Court. Welsh government must now promise that the bereaved families in Wales will get that same level of forensic and detailed analysis."