Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 1:36 pm on 2 December 2020.
Well, unfortunately, as the Member knows, I'm not familiar with the individual circumstances, or indeed, as I understand from what he said, as the constituent tested positive in the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt hospital, I'm not sure when the infection can be traced to. But there's a broader point here that the Member is trying to make, and that is about how successfully our hospitals are managing those patients who are positive, and it's why, when we publish information about COVID patients and COVID care, we have a confirmed recovery where they have tested positive, we have a suspected category, because even though we haven't got a confirmed test at that point in time, it matters how they're treated and managed to try to prevent the risk of infection to people who are COVID negative, and then we also have a category of people who are in recovery as well.
The reason why our nosocomial transmission group—and that's transmission between healthcare staff and others—has met and is led by our chief nursing officer and deputy chief medical officer is because we recognise the risks that exist. And if Members do have examples of where they're concerned that that hasn't been implemented properly, they should of course take that up with their local health board, and if they don't get a satisfactory answer, they should provide the details to me and I will happily investigate.