Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:36 pm on 20 September 2022.
Well, thank you to Heledd Fychan for those additional questions. She's right to say that I have, once again, met the bereaved families group earlier this month, so not many days have elapsed since that meeting, and, in the extraordinary circumstances of last week, I think it's understandable that not every question has been responded to immediately. So, for the sake of clarity, then, Llywydd, anyone whose care is funded by the NHS, including people who were transferred from hospital into a care home, and who subsequently contracted coronavirus and died within 14 days of transfer, those cases are already covered by the 'Putting Things Right' regulations, and those incidents are already being investigated following the actions that the health Minister outlined earlier this year. We are able to do that because there is a direct line from the NHS to the care of those patients.
The general care home sector, as the Member will know, is far more diverse than that: over 1,000 registered adult care homes in Wales, the vast majority of those privately owned. Inevitably, that adds complexities and challenges to the investigation process when you're relying on that much wider set of individuals and circumstances. Individual health boards are already reporting the results of the investigations that they are carrying out. Aneurin Bevan health board reported and put up onto their website their first report in June of this year, and Swansea bay did the same in July, and I expect health boards to continue to do that. The delivery unit, which was funded by the Minister in order to assist with consistency of approach in every part of Wales, will produce its interim report in March of next year, and a final report will be provided in March of 2024.