Hospital-acquired Coronavirus Deaths

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 1 December 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:27, 1 December 2020

Llywydd, I thank Andrew R.T. Davies for that. I agree with much of what he said. The deaths that we have seen from coronavirus in the community and in hospital are always an individual tragedy for families involved and our thoughts really do need to be with them. For the week ending 22 November, Public Health Wales data shows that 94 per cent of all confirmed cases were acquired in the community, and 3 per cent of cases were acquired in hospital, but that does mean that hospitals have a particular obligation to make sure that they do everything they can to prevent the spread of virus once it has gained any sort of footing within a closed setting such as a hospital.

We learnt lessons earlier in the summer, Llywydd, from an outbreak in the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, and they have been advising colleagues in Cwm Taf as well, and the lessons that are being learnt there are being spread to other parts of the health service here in Wales. It's just an unfortunate and inescapable fact that as community prevalence rises, the chance of the virus getting into a closed setting, whether that's a care home or a hospital or a prison, rises at the same time. In those communities where coronavirus has been in particularly violent circulation—that's certainly been true of RCT—then those risks are even greater. But learning the lessons from the experience and making sure that they are available to others who may face the same challenges is a very important part of the response, and very much, I know, part of the way that Public Health Wales and the specialists in this field are working together.