Wales blames Brexit as Covid bereaved say details are ‘past worst fears’

Health chiefs in Wales have claimed Brexit hampered their response to Covid. It got here as bereaved households mentioned their family members “didn’t stand a chance” – and that the reality concerning the lack of preparedness for a pandemic was “beyond our worst fears”.

Sir Frank Atherton, the chief medical officer for Wales, advised the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that planning for potential future well being emergencies like pandemics had all however stopped by 2019. He mentioned this was resulting from Operation Yellowhammer – which diverted assets to making ready for a attainable no-deal Brexit.

However, counsel to the inquiry Hugo Keith described the pandemic response in Wales as a “remarkably complex labyrinthine system”. He displayed a chart displaying the myriad of teams and our bodies in place as an example his level.

And Dr Andrew Goodall – who was chief govt of the NHS in Wales when the pandemic hit – admitted there was a necessity for the system to be streamlined. He mentioned that, prior to now, a lot of the teams shaped had not achieved all of their targets.

The inquiry, throughout its fourth day of public hearings, additionally heard how measures to cope with non-flu pandemics – together with mask-wearing, mass diagnostic testing and quarantining – had been “prematurely dismissed”. Despite considerations being raised about the necessity to replace pandemic-related paperwork, such steering and insurance policies had not been considerably modified since 2011, the inquiry was advised.

Sir Frank, who turned a family identify resulting from steadily showing at Welsh authorities coronavirus press conferences all through the pandemic, mentioned it was his function to offer recommendation to ministers “freely and impartially”. He mentioned whereas ministers had been all the time “receptive” to his recommendation they “did not always follow the advice closely or diligently”.

He mentioned to Baroness Hallett, chair of the inquiry, that his workplace had been under-resourced when coronavirus emerged and described “drowning in a sea of information” firstly of the pandemic.

“We couldn’t even manage emails,” Sir Frank advised the chair. “That led to a process over a period of time to try to get some additional resource.”

Baroness Hallett mentioned: “Basically, in getting the additional resource, that was an acknowledgement that you were under-resourced in the first place?”

“I would agree with that,” Sir Frank mentioned. Sir Frank denied there was “insufficient focus or attention” on pandemic preparedness and claimed that “on an official level there was quite a lot of work going on around preparedness”.

“As ever you could say ‘could more have been done?’ That may be a valid question,” he mentioned.

He later advised Mr Keith that measures to cope with a pandemic apart from flu had been “with the benefit of hindsight discounted without sufficient consideration”. He added: “We could and should have paid more attention to the ‘what if’ questions – ‘what if the virus was so different?’”

But he later disagreed with Mr Keith’s evaluation that “when it came to Covid there wasn’t just a gap there was a yawning gap in preparedness”.

They mentioned the Wales Pandemic Flu Preparedness Group which was arrange in 2016 to “shadow” a UK group. It first met a 12 months later in 2017 and didn’t meet once more after September 2018.

Minutes from the group’s conferences confirmed members believed they wanted to attend to see how the UK Government acted earlier than making any of its personal enhancements to pandemic steering. But Sir Frank mentioned progress additionally got here to a halt as a result of “resources were moved to another issue”.

Mr Keith requested if he was referring to Operation Yellowhammer – the codename given to the cross-government civil contingency planning for the potential for a no-deal Brexit. Sir Frank agreed, including: “The work all stalled.”

Emails between Sir Frank and different public well being officers in Wales from 2019 and seen by the inquiry additionally confirmed the chief medical officer thought Wales was “not adequately prepared” for an outbreak of high-consequence ailments. He first raised his considerations after two folks from west Wales turned low-risk contacts of an Mpox – previously referred to as monkeypox – affected person.

Sir Frank mentioned preparations on the time meant any high-consequence infectious illness sufferers can be transferred to London or Newcastle as Wales didn’t have the specialist amenities required and that he had tried to strengthen these preparations. Dr Goodall started his proof by serving to clarify Wales’ devolutionary powers and the way by 2018 a lot of the tasks over civil contingencies had been transferred to the Senedd.

After Mr Keith once more commented on the “plethora” of native, regional and nationwide teams that existed to take a look at such emergencies, Mr Goodall accepted there was “duplication” and “too many arrangements in place” and that it “took too long to implement recommendations”. Warnings concerning the influence of such fragmented and complex engaged on Wales’ resilience had been current in studies from way back to 2012, the inquiry heard.

Mr Goodall will proceed his proof on Tuesday morning, adopted by the First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford and former well being minister Vaughan Gething.

Anna-Louise Marsh-Rees, from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru marketing campaign group, advised PA news company: “All I can say is, our loved ones did not stand a chance. We thought it was going to be bad today, but the lack of preparation is just beyond our worst fears.

“The structures for emergency healthcare planning was a complex labyrinth. There were unclear responsibilities and duplication gaps.

“We had numerous organisations that couldn’t do anything or were waiting for the UK to do something. What was the point of them all?

“We’ve got 20 years’ worth of reports and recommendations on infection control. They weren’t updated. They were ignored.”

She described Sir Frank’s responses as “fluffy, casual, and indecisive” and mentioned there was “zero accountability and zero responsibility”.

“Frank also said that the NHS Wales couldn’t cope with two cases of monkeypox. So there was absolutely no chance when something like coronavirus came along.

“They should really just hang their heads in shame and, as I say again, my dad did not stand a chance.”