Over two in five Welsh care homes have felt pressure to accept hospital patients who were either Covid-19 positive or had not been tested, Care Forum Wales has said.
CFW chair Mario Kreft is now demanding a public inquiry into the lack of Covid-19 testing, which he says, has turned some care homes into “coronavirus warzones”.
He has described it as “imperative” to understand the reasons how and why the policies adopted by the UK, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland governments “had been so misjudged”.
Until recently the Westminster and devolved governments had resisted repeated calls to introduce mass testing of all residents and staff in care homes – claiming it was not scientifically justified.
Health Minister Vaughan Gething MS has now announced that coronavirus testing is being extended to all care home residents and staff in Wales.
Meanwhile, the latest statistics from Care Inspectorate Wales showed that here just over 570 Welsh care home residents had died of suspected or confirmed Covid-19, bringing the total number of Welsh care home COVID-19 deaths to 2,377.
He said: “If there is a second wave of this pandemic we need to quickly learn lessons to ensure care homes will be properly safeguarded so we can shield our residents.
“This is not a blame game – we just need the truth and we therefore need openness and transparency to restore public trust and confidence. We need to understand the thinking and the scientific evidence behind the policies adopted by the devolved nations.”
