Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:45 pm on 7 July 2021.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 2:45, 7 July 2021

Thanks very much. I, too, would refute the implication that we haven't been taking seriously the nosocomial transmission in hospitals, this infection transmission in hospitals. We've been taking very careful steps, and anybody who's been to hospital will understand how strict they are in terms of who's allowed in and wearing PPE, and I absolutely refute that. As you say, we are investigating every case, and we are trying to learn as we go along. I know and I hear the calls for a public inquiry, and I have read carefully the letter that has been written, but I've got to tell you that we are still in the middle of a pandemic. We have all our hands at the pump at the moment, and this is not over. We know, if you look at the projections in particular in England, they're talking now of the possibility of two million cases a day. So, we've got to be really serious, and take this seriously and understand that this is not the time for us to get involved in a public inquiry, but we are learning as we go along.

I also refute the fact that this is a specific Welsh issue. Let's not pretend that there haven't been deaths in hospitals as a result of COVID in hospitals in England and that transmission in hospitals in England. That is simply not the case.