The response of the Welsh Government to the pandemic has come under fire from the barrister representing bereaved families at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. Kirsten Heaven, addressing the inquiry on behalf of The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru, said the people of Wales are still feeling "trauma due to the devastation caused by Covid-19" and feel "let down" by government.
She added: "They have experienced first-hand what they consider to be the catastrophic failure of the Welsh Government to adequately prepare for and respond to a pandemic in Wales."
Unlike Scotland, Wales has not been granted its own inquiry and Ms Heaven said the families of the bereaved are "very disappointed" in "what they consider to be an inadequate response" to the probe by the Welsh Government. She said the families were "frankly shocked by the brevity and lack of detail" of witness statements submitted by the Welsh Government and its advisers to module one of the UK inquiry.
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Ms Heaven added: "It also appears very disappointing that in some quarters there appears to be a reluctance by certain ministers to take political responsibility for failures to prepare for a pandemic in Wales. This inquiry is the only opportunity the people of Wales will have to ensure there is proper scrutiny on the decisions of the Welsh Government and their advisers. The people of Wales want answers. They are also looking for accountability and for failures to be acknowledged so that lessons can be learned."
The inquiry began by watching a 17-minute video including testimony from people describing the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on themselves and their loved ones, including those who had died alone. One woman cried as she said her father had died, followed, just a few days later, by her sister, and that she suffered guilt over the way they had died.
Among the evidence on the first day was from inquiry's lead counsel Hugo Keith KC who said there could be a conclusion drawn that there was a "labyrinthine and confusing picture" when it came to the various health bodies, committees and subcommittees, the UK's Covid-19 Inquiry has heard.
Each of the four nations has its own public health body and there had been "significant reforms to the national and local systems for public health" in England, Mr Keigh said.
He said module one will look at "who provided oversight as to that state of preparedness of local responders, arm's-length bodies, lead government departments, other government departments".
He added: "We've seen my lady, in the written evidence, that relevant bodies, committees and subcommittees within Government were renamed or sometimes disbanded altogether only for other strikingly similar ones to be set up in the immediate aftermath. One might conclude, looking at the schematic schedules, that there was a labyrinthine and confusing picture. Was it really necessary?"
Mr Keith KC said the nation was "taken by surprise" by "significant aspects" of the disease that has been recorded on 226,977 death certificates. He argued that preparations for Brexit had distracted the Government from making the improvements required to the strategy on how to tackle a deadly pandemic.
Inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Hallett vowed that those who suffered in the pandemic will "always be at the heart of the inquiry" as she launched the first public hearing. The retired Court of Appeal judge welcomed the "dignified vigil" held by bereaved relatives outside the building in west London as she vowed to undertake the thorough investigation they deserve.
She said she intends to answer three key questions: was the UK properly prepared for the pandemic, was the response appropriate, and can lessons be learned for the future?
Mr Keith said that, near the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the Department of Health and Social Care, along with the three devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, published a Covid-19 action plan "setting out how they planned to tackle the coronavirus outbreak".
"The plan stated that the United Kingdom was well prepared to respond in a way that offered substantial protection to the public. Whether that was actually the case will be examined in module one," he said in his opening statement.
"Even at this stage, before hearing the evidence, it is apparent that we might not have been very well prepared at all."
Mr Keith said the significant risks of pandemics had been long assessed and officials had planned for them.
"But fundamentally, in relation to significant aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were taken by surprise," he added. The lawyer said there is a need to question whether the health services were sufficiently funded or suffered from "under-investment" ahead of the pandemic that "left in its wake death, misery and incalculable loss".
Mr Keith said that key to the first phase of the inquiry is whether the "terrible outcomes" for people with existing health conditions and disabilities, as well as for people from deprived or ethnic minority backgrounds, were "foreseen or could have been mitigated".
"Huge, urgent and complex policy decisions" were necessary in areas including shielding, employment support, schools, borders and lockdown restrictions," he added. "Few of those areas were anticipated, let alone considered in detail."
Members of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign group lined up outside, holding pictures of loved ones as they expressed frustration at feeling "excluded from sharing key evidence".
Lady Hallett said she had set out an "ambitious" timetable for the inquiry, adding: "To conduct the kind of thorough investigation the people of the United Kingdom deserve takes time and a great deal of preparation. I hope they will understand when they see the results of the work we are doing that I am listening to them. Their loss will be recognised."
Failures of planning and preparation for personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare staff "led to the ludicrous spectacle of doctors making aprons from bin liners" during the pandemic, the official Covid-19 Inquiry heard. Brian Stanton, lawyer for the British Medical Association, listed the ways in which medical workers had to improvise due to the lack of adequate protective clothing.
He said: "The fact that in March 2020 NHS England assured the health and social care committee that there was sufficient supply of PPE nationally, despite stocks containing less than two weeks' worth of most equipment, suggests serious failures of planning and preparation. Frontline staff often had to go without PPE, buy their own, use homemade, donated or expired items, and reuse single-use items. Staff also had to use items that were out of date, with multiple expired stickers visibly layered on top of each other.
"Many felt pressured to work without adequate protection, with consequences for their mental and physical health."
He said failures in planning and preparation had "led to the ludicrous spectacle of doctors making aprons from bin liners, because they were sturdier than the PPE equipment provided".
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