Group launches personal attack on Mark Drakeford as latest phase of UK Covid Inquiry draws to a close

Martin Shipton

A group representing those whose loved ones died in the pandemic has launched a bitter, personal attack on Mark Drakeford as the latest phase of the UK Inquiry came to a close.

Module 7 related to the handling of the Test Trace and Isolate programme by the various administrations.

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Community testing

The closing statement of the Welsh Government said it had ended community testing on March 17 2020. It continued: “That decision, which mirrored one taken by the UK Government on March 13, followed advice from SAGE (the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies)” and Public Health Wales.

“The intention, based upon that advice, was that the end of community testing would increase the pace of testing for critical hospital functions, targeted testing, and for testing healthcare workers. In other words, it would place the available tests where they were most needed.

“However, as [former Health Minister Vaughan] Gething explained, to understand the decision to end community testing in Wales, one must look at the progress of the virus at the time. Once sustained community transmission of the virus in Wales was clear, the country moved from 'contain' to 'delay' phase. This meant that symptomatic people were advised to stay at home unless they were too unwell to do so. Therefore the need for symptomatic individuals to be tested and then traced, and then asked to isolate if positive, was removed.

“Welsh Government witnesses were questioned about the timing of the decision to introduce targeted asymptomatic testing within certain settings in mid May 2020. It was suggested then, as it has been today, that this decision should have been taken sooner. [Former First Minister Mark] Drakeford said the Welsh Government followed the scientific advice as it was presented to it. Both he and Mr Gething explained that there needed to be a sufficient body of evidence to justify the prioritisation of tests for asymptomatic testing over other understood and identified priorities. Mr Gething reminded the Inquiry of the important difference between the understanding of asymptomatic infection and that of asymptomatic transmission, both of which were still developing in the weeks before the decision on May 14 2020.

“He told the Inquiry that the better understanding of asymptomatic transmission coincided with there being greater testing capacity in Wales throughout May 2020, thanks to the UK portals and the increase in NHS Wales testing capacity.

“It's worth remembering that as evidence of asymptomatic transmission was still emerging, on May 2 2020 the Welsh Government introduced targeted asymptomatic testing in larger care homes and those homes with confirmed cases. At its root, the Welsh Government's approach to asymptomatic testing involved a balancing exercise. And the point at which that balance was tipped in favour of introducing a programme of asymptomatic testing was in mid-May 2020. That decision followed advice from SAGE on May 12 2020, communicated to ministers of the Welsh Government on May 14 2020, and implemented in the following days.

“As to testing capacity, both Mr Gething and Mr Drakeford spoke about the apparent gap between the number of available tests and the number of tests taken in the summer of 2020. They explained that this was a time when more tests had become available as part of the Welsh in the UK testing programme. It was also a time of low prevalence of the virus in the population, which meant that the gap between the available tests and those used was both expected and explicable. Of course, there were times when ministers considered it necessary to exercise more detailed scrutiny of testing capacity and the Inquiry has heard that Mr Gething quite properly required full explanations from his officials.”

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'Harrowing'

A statement issued after the formal hearings from the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru said: “Today marks the close of Module 7 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry – a module that has been of profound significance to our group. Over the last three weeks, families from across Wales have listened intently and relived the harrowing realities of losing loved ones who should have been safe – loved ones who caught Covid in hospitals and in care homes, the very places that were meant to protect them.

“And yet, the Welsh Government closing statement, as with all four Welsh Government witnesses, demonstrates there has not been a shred of remorse. Not a flicker of accountability. Not one meaningful suggestion that lessons have truly been learned.

“In stark and painful contrast, the Scottish Government has at least shown a degree of introspection and regret – basic human decency that has been entirely absent from the Welsh Government’s evidence. For our group members, this has only compounded their suffering.

“Let us be clear: what we have heard from Mr Drakeford and others was not leadership – it was deflection. All four witnesses sought refuge in semantics, in bureaucratic justifications, and in politically convenient timelines. Not once did we hear the words that might have brought solace to bereaved families: ‘We got it wrong. People died who shouldn't have.’"

Delay

Referring to what it sees as the “catastrophic” delay in introducing asymptomatic testing, the statement continued: “Today, the attempt to justify the Welsh Government’s delay in introducing asymptomatic testing – by citing the SAGE minutes from May 12 2020 – is not only weak, but also desperate. This was not new, it had been known for at least a month. Furthermore stating that evidence of asymptomatic transmission was still emerging on May 2 2020 is preposterous.

“The scientific evidence was already clear weeks earlier. Experts, including Professor [Christophe] Fraser and Sir Paul Nurse, gave compelling testimony about this. Public Health England was aware of asymptomatic transmission in care homes by early April. So were other UK nations. The scientific community had spoken – yet Wales continued to deny, delay, and deflect.

“To suggest that the ‘evidence was still emerging’ as late as May 2 2020 is frankly preposterous. This narrative crumbles under the weight of the documented facts. Mr Drakeford’s repeated insistence in the Senedd that asymptomatic testing had ‘no clinical value’ – even as care homes were being seeded with infection – will forever stand as a damning indictment of a government that chose to look away.”

'Cruel'

Focussing on the personal role of Mr Drakeford, the statement said: “Mark Drakeford has been particularly cruel to our group. We do not use that word lightly.

“Throughout this Inquiry process, he has treated bereaved Welsh families not with compassion, but with cold detachment. He has met our grief with silence. Our advocacy with avoidance. Our pain with platitudes.

“In the hearings, Mr Drakeford spoke of lessons, reflection, and communication. But we ask: Where is the humanity? Where is the acknowledgement of the Welsh lives lost to preventable nosocomial infection? Where is the apology?

“For many of our members, the way they have been treated by the former First Minister has felt like a second betrayal – the first being the failure to protect their loved ones, and the second being the refusal to even recognise their suffering.

“This closing statement from the Welsh Government tries to paint delays as strategic. It was anything but. The testing regime in Wales was defined not by caution as Drakeford bragged, but by a total lack of planning and refusal to listen to the experts.

“Healthcare workers were not offered routine asymptomatic testing until March 2021. Care home staff were ignored. Patients were admitted and discharged without even the most basic safeguards. And when the capacity was finally there – it went unused. It’s as if the Welsh Government didn’t want to know their positive cases as then they’d have to act.

“To hear Mr Drakeford argue that ‘you can’t run a system at full throttle’ is beyond insulting. The families we represent are left wondering how many deaths occurred while 90,000 tests a week sat unused.

“The Welsh Government's approach to this module has been defined by defensiveness and denial. It has failed to meet this moment. It has failed to meet its people. And it has failed to show the humility required for change.

“In our view, the evidence is overwhelming: the Welsh Government did not follow the science – it cherry-picked it to justify inaction. It did not lead with caution – it led with delay. And worst of all, it continues to do so today.

“We remind the Inquiry, respectfully but firmly: real accountability requires more than process – it demands truth, ownership, and remorse. So far, from the Welsh Government, we have seen none of the above.

“We will be submitting full written closing submissions, but we close today with this: our loved ones were not numbers, not abstractions, not unavoidable casualties. They were people. Their lives mattered. And they deserved better.”