The UK Government took Wales’ testing kits - fixing devolution should be minimum compensation

'Ceri Roberts, managing director of Cariad Care Homes, in Gwynedd, said she went online to buy Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from two major suppliers, amid the coronavirus outbreak. But she was told they were only delivering to care homes in England.' (from the news report in 'North Wales Live' cited by Ben Gwalchmai above.) Since supply routinely follows demand (which is probably why Germany's ahead of the rest of us on Covid testing; they got their order in first with the test kit manufacturers) I smell a contract behind this. Cariad Care Homes is a small purchaser; Public Health England is an enormous one. For personal protective equipment manufacturers a huge mass order from Public Health England is seriously good business.; if Public Health England tell the manufacturers that as a condition of any deal they expect to be able to buy all the PPE that the businesses can produce for the time being, they're hardly going to refuse - even if that means that for the time being they're going to have to decline to supply their previous small-scale customers. And even if it were Public Health Wales rather than Cariad Care Homes who were competing with PHE for supplies of PPE, there's not much doubt who'd have the advantage; from the manufacturer's perspective a deal with great big England is plainly more attractive than a deal with relatively little Wales, because they're in the business of selling the stuff they make and a very largevolume sale is going to be more attractive than a pretty small one. This, indeed, might be portrayed as one of devolution's downsides. Indeed, I wouldn't be too surprised if one of its detractors picked up on it, arguing that this hugely destructive emergency has shown that we're really 'better together' as one United Kingdom, and that if we'd just had a single 'Public Health UK' the problem wouldn't have arisen. They won't of course mention that an independent Wales, unconstrained by the complexities of divided competences, might have been more nimble in negotiating the very best deal for Welsh citizens. But then you wouldn't expect them to!

Ben Ive listened to you speak a couple of times and read your posts with interest quite often agreeing with much of what you say but Im afraid where you're arguments always fall down is in your loyalty ( as much s loyalty is to be admired) to The labour Party in Wales. Labour in Wales is, always has been and always will be a unionist part. Labours ultimate allegiance is to The UK government, or lets be honest and call it what it is The English government, in Westminster which makes the Labour party in Wales no different to the Tories or Lib-Dems. There may be some ideological divergences on policy but when push comes to shove, for Labour , the union comes before Wales and by default people in England come before people in Wales Coupled with that the stark reality is that the Labour government in Wales are totally inept. Yes there have been very real and obvious failings, by Westminster, in terms of finance, powers and infrastructure following devolution but Labour's handling of the resources they have had over the past 20 years has been woful (look at the state of our health, education and business/economy.) Mark Drayford is i'm sure a genuinely nice guy but he's not a leader, Vaughn Gethin is the epitome of laziness and Ken Skeets frankly clueless, so its been good to see over the past 18 months or so, Adam Price and Plaid holding Labour to account for their failings. but even then some of Labour's responses have beggared belief , Ken Skeets stating that he ( and Labour) had "no idea on what the Welsh economy was doing" and Mark Drayford's recent response in trying to defend Labours appalling record on health " We don't manage health we just provide the money" from a First Minister was nothing less than a disgrace and a gift to those who would see The Senedd abolished. So was it really a surprise, even during crisis, that when Westminster whistled Labour went running. Labour have allowed The UK (English) government to lead on the purchase of testing kits and PPE, with out so much as a wimpier and these kits will now be allocated to Wales on a head of population count and not needs a bases (Barnett principles used in medical allocation). Loyalty is to be admired in certain circumstances but political loyalty to a failed and failing party isn't. Politics isn't sport its peoples lives it might be ok, in football, to believe that "once a bluebird always a bluebird" ( after all if your team gets regulated no one really suffers) but it's not ok in politics, if your party fail and repeatedly fail real people suffer real harm. In 14 months time we will have a Senedd election and we need change in Wales, we need a Plaid government, led by Adam Price, a government with drive, energy and ideas who will put the needs of the people in Wales first and fight tooth and nail for those needs. Other wise we will continue the circle of Labour in Wales towing the Westminster Line, no matter who the majority English government in power is, people in Wales will continue to be handed scraps, our health, education and economy will continue its decline and the independence many of us wish for will never happen

Mae hyn yn warthis. Mae angen mwy o anibyniaeth arnom fel yn yr erthygl

In a time of crisis it is common practice to form partnerships and alliances to achieve effectiveness and economies of scale. It is a key principle underpinning the EU. In such circumstances no-one's sovereignty or independence is threatened. So WHY could NHS Wales and NHS England n(and Scotland) not have formed a joint procurement group with the common aim of effectiveness? I am reluctantly forced to assume that the Welsh Government didn't want it because it would have exposed the glaring holes in devolution, and England didn't need it as they already had the leverage of numbers. That ridiculous state of affairs, which is arguably costing Welsh lives, is STILL being perpetuated as our politicians play the blame game. PC, I am a supporter, but right now you are not making it easy... Do whatever is needed...yes, in partnership with NHS England if necessary... to turn round the inequalities that are becoming more noticeable by the day...

Looking at the SAGE-Coronavirus website, I found the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling has been reporting for several years. Their most recent includes use of anti-viral medications to reduce the severity of cases and reduce the attack rate by perhaps one third, if used within 24 hours of first symptoms. It was seen as one tool for reducing the peak of the epidemic. Public Health England recommended it, requiring stockpiling of sufficient doses to cover 40% of the population. It could work similarly in locked-down Wales or a hot-spot as was Gwent. Evidently, the Tory Government(s) never implemented it. But neither did Labour in Wales. Pandemic Control is a Reserved issue but presumably Pandemic preparations are devolved along with Health. So are Public Health Wales not informed on the use of anti-virals? Cuba offered Italy some large number of doses of one such anti-viral, interferon alpha-2b, used in China, set up with mass-production able to rapidly supply them. Much cheaper than buying Chinese PPE and easy to dispense as a nasal spray from pharmacies. Let's see our Health Minister and PHW considering this rather than trying to suppress whistleblowing by medical staff.