Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:48 pm on 30 September 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:48, 30 September 2020

I think there are differences as well as similarities. So, we picked up the issues in Wrexham Maelor, and we definitely learnt from what happened in Wrexham Maelor, about the need for clear executive leadership and for buy-in across the staff group for the measures that would need to be taken, about prompt isolation and reinforcing enhanced infection prevention and control measures. So, our whole system learnt a lot from what happened within Wrexham Maelor, and those lessons are being applied within the Royal Glamorgan. That is why we are, for example, testing staff who work on that site, it's why a number of wards have been closed, it's why there's an early diversion of activity away from that hospital, to allow the hospital to manage and to recover, and it's why there's been a reinforcement of the need to test patients on admission, whether emergency or elective.

It's also the case that some of the transmission in the Royal Glamorgan, as with Wrexham Maelor, came from transmission within the hospital, whether between patients or staff. What is different, though, about the Royal Glamorgan is that we have a higher reservoir of coronavirus within the surrounding community. So, a number of people have come into the hospital and needed treatment because of coronavirus, and we also know that some transmission has taken place within the hospital itself. There are risks for every hospital and closed environment if coronavirus takes hold within the staff or the group of people who are either being cared for or living within that environment. It's why we continue with our testing programme in care homes. I expect that we'll not just have more information from the health board, but there'll be a continued focus on whether the infection rate peaks, as it did in the Maelor, and recovers, and how long that will last for. So, I'm expecting to have regular updates from the health board themselves about the picture within the Royal Glamorgan each day. And I know that the chief executive of the health board is expecting to make further statements to the press about the measures that have been taken and the action, including, as I said, the diversion of patients away from that site.