4. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Update on COVID-19

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:48 pm on 23 November 2021.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 3:48, 23 November 2021

Thanks, Gareth. Like you, I'm keeping a very close eye on the care sector, as is my colleague Julie Morgan—very concerned about the relationship between care homes and hospitals and the flow through that is crucial to keep the whole system moving. We do have very clear guidelines when it comes to visiting care homes. So, all of those are set out, and you will find that information on our website. That includes the fact that visitors do need to take a lateral flow test before they visit a care home. So, that facility is already in place.

About 77 per cent of care home residents have already received their booster vaccination. I was very pleased that we hit our proposed timetable, which was to offer all those care home residents the booster by 1 November. We did hit that milestone, so I was very pleased to see that. I can find you the flu vaccination rates for care home residents, but obviously that is one of the first places that we go in terms of getting the flu vaccine rolled out. But I will say this, and that is that we are not seeing the same uptake by the public in general across Wales when it comes to flu vaccination as we did last year. I would encourage people to take up that opportunity, because we genuinely don't know what's ahead of us, and we all need to take all of our protections seriously.