Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:28 pm on 7 July 2021.
Minister, I'd like to ask a pressing issue with regard to the social care system, which can be resolved now, and this is a personal issue to me. In response to my colleague Gareth Davies last week, you said there hadn't been a blanket ban on care home visits. Technically, that might have been true, but the reality was very different and I can say that from a personal point of view, because my father, who was a Member here for two terms, is a resident of a care home nearby here in Cardiff Bay. He has advanced dementia. I'll never forget that Tuesday before the Scottish game, going there and being told by a tearful receptionist that the care home had been closed half an hour earlier, and it was closed then until August. Of course, it was then closed again for the second wave, and it's been closed again now for the last two months because of positive COVID tests by residents and care home workers, despite them all having two jabs, despite not showing any symptoms and despite not being hospitalised.
Deputy Minister, I appreciate it's very difficult; I appreciate the need to protect residents like my father, but we want to see our loved ones. I know the concerns about the delta variant, I know the concerns about the third wave, but, please, could you look again at the Public Health Wales guidance towards visiting care homes, so people like me and many others can visit their loved ones? Diolch yn fawr.