Wales’ minister for health has announced a funding package to investigate Covid infections that originated in Welsh hospitals.
It comes two months after it was revealed that a quarter of Wales’ 9,000-plus Covid-related deaths were down to hospital-acquired infections.
In her written statement, Health Minister Baroness Morgan stated Covid-19 infections contracted in hospitals “account for around 1% of all Covid-19 infections. Very sadly, in some cases, some people have come to harm or died after acquiring Covid-19 in hospitals”.
She added: “I have therefore agreed to provide £4.54m over two years to support health boards and the NHS Delivery Unit to take forward an important and complex programme of investigation work into cases of hospital-acquired Covid-19.”
NHS Wales has developed and published a unique national framework in relation to patient safety incidents of hospital acquired Covid-19 that sets out actions health boards should take in response to such cases in relation to incident reporting, investigation and associated communications.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative and Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said:
“It is about time ministers provided funding to investigate this: Wales has the UK’s highest Covid mortality-rate, and given a quarter of these deaths originated in hospitals, it is essential they are investigated with frameworks in place to reduce transmission going forward.
“There will be cases of significant breaches of the infection control measures the minister boasts about, like that of Sharon Jones who was moved to an amber ward in Neville Hall Hospital rather than the promised Covid-free green ward. She subsequently caught Covid and died in hospital.
“But this is the least the minister can do. If the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay were serious about identifying and addressing faults in infection control during the pandemic, then they would cease to block the Wales-specific Covid inquiry for which we and bereaved families have long called.”