2. Statement by the First Minister: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 11:31 am on 10 June 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 11:31, 10 June 2020

Llywydd, I thank David Rees for that. Just to say again, I hugely appreciate the human cost that there is for families and for residents in not being able to see one another at times in their lives where that human contact means so much to them.

But Mr Rees referred to care homes in Wales where there is no COVID in circulation, and three quarters of all the care homes in Wales have not reported a single confirmed case. But there are only two ways, really, in which coronavirus could get into a home where there is no coronavirus at the moment. One is it is brought in by a member of staff, and the second is that it is brought in by a visitor. So, the rules that we have had in place are absolutely there to protect care home residents from the devastating effect that coronavirus can have in a home that has elderly people with underlying health conditions living in close proximity to one another. Week after week, Llywydd, in these sessions, we have had to stare at those very, very sobering figures of the number of people who have died in care homes in Wales.

So, Mr Heaney's letter, which went out on 5 June, does advise care homes about how they can do more to allow visits from family and friends to care home residents in circumstances that minimise that risk. Care homes are able to do that under the current regulations; it doesn't require a change in regulations to be able to do the additional things that Albert Heaney is advising.

As David Rees said, there are many, many care homes in Wales that are already doing hugely imaginative things to try and bridge the gap between what was possible before and what has been possible during the pandemic. We have a group working on that further guidance. It meets again tomorrow. We want to be able to do more to allow families to have contact with people in care homes, but we can only judge it against the real risk, the risk we have seen from the number of deaths that have taken place, of what the virus does if it does get into a care home where, up until now, all those efforts have succeeded in keeping it at bay.