Wales’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic will be covered by the UK-wide Covid inquiry
Two senior officials will give evidence to the UK Covid inquiry on Monday about how well prepared Wales was for the pandemic.
Chief medical officer Sir Frank Atherton and former NHS Wales boss Dr Andrew Goodall will be questioned.
Both men were key to Wales’ Covid response, appearing regularly in live televised media briefings.
First Minister Mark Drakeford and the then-health minister Vaughan Gething are due before the inquiry on Tuesday.
Mr Gething became economy minister in May 2021 while Dr Goodall is now the Welsh government’s permanent secretary, its most senior civil servant.
The hearings, chaired by former judge and crossbench peer Baroness Hallett, have heard accusations from the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Wales group that there was a “catastrophic failure” to plan for such an emergency by Welsh ministers.
Giving evidence on the first day of the inquiry last month, the group said the Welsh government “do not appear to have taken sufficient steps to understand and plan for the risks of a pandemic”, despite UK-wide warnings.
The group’s barrister, Kirsten Heaven, said this had led to “much more severe consequences from Covid-19 for vulnerable groups and communities”.
The group also accused the Welsh government of trying to “shift responsibility” for pandemic planning on to the Senedd and civil service.
Image source, Welsh Government
Sir Frank Atherton was appointed Wales’ chief medical officer in 2016
“Wales and the Welsh government did not have an adequate understanding of the risks posed to the people of Wales from the pandemic before and during the relevant period,” Ms Heaven added.
“For example, pandemic preparedness failed to take account of the acute health inequalities in Wales, distinct from the rest of the UK, and that specifically included levels of chronic ill-health and disability in the older population.”
Wales’ pandemic preparedness is being considered as part of the UK-wide inquiry, with public hearings in Wales this autumn.
The Welsh government has rejected calls for a Wales-specific inquiry.
A cross-party Senedd committee has also been established to see if there were any gaps in what the UK inquiry reports about Wales.
If it finds gaps it will review those areas, providing Members of the Senedd agree, but it would not be the full public inquiry that campaigners want.
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