Yahoo News Bereaved families furious as Mark Drakeford is named 'one of the heroes of Covid' and handed an award
A group representing the families and loved ones of those who died during Covid are furious that former First Minister Mark Drakeford has been given a Wales Care Award and described as "one of the heroes of Covid."
Mr Drakeford was given the award by Care Forum Wales at an event to celebrate 30 years of its organisation last month. News of the award was reported by the Rhyl, Prestatyn and Abergele Journal on Tuesday, and led representatives of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group feeling infuriated.
Anna-Louise Marsh-Rees, whose father died in hospital during the pandemic, described how it made little sense to her that an organisation that represented care homes would award Mr Drakeford for his work when care homes suffered so tremendously during the pandemic.
READ MORE: All the things we learned from three shocking weeks of the Covid Inquiry in Wales
"It's adding insult to injury, two years on now, and nothing, nothing has been done to investigate care homes," claimed Ms Marsh-Rees. From her work with the Covid-19 Bereaved group and others affected by Covid, Ms Marsh-Rees said it was well-documented that care homes experienced a difficult time during the pandemic. "It was not just about the lack of testing. There was no PPE, there was no guidance," she claimed. For the latest health and Covid news, sign up to our newsletter here
She referenced evidence heard at the Covid-19 Inquiry in Cardiff last month, where it was revealed that the Welsh Government had a deliberate policy to transfer elderly patients from hospitals into care homes without a test, even if they had Covid symptoms. In 2020, there were countless stories about residents dying in care homes, with staff left devastated as a result. One care home, Tregwilym Lodge in Rogerstone, saw 15 people die in one month, although Covid tests had not been carried out.
Last month the inquiry heard that, by March 31, 2020, scientific evidence was starting to show, and being circulated among the Scientific Advisory Group for emergencies (Sage), that asymptomatic people could spread the virus, and what this meant for hospitals. Despite this, people were discharged into care homes without tests. It took until April 29 for routine tests of people leaving hospitals to go into care homes to begin, and this was two weeks after England. More than 10,000 people died in care homes in Wales during the pandemic, and there is no way of ever knowing how many were avoidable.
At the Covid inquiry last month, when Mr Drakeford was quizzed about testing people on discharge to care homes, he said: "This is classically an example where knowing what we know now about asymptomatic transmission if we had that state of knowledge at the time we would undoubtedly have been testing people. At the time, that knowledge didn't exist. The advice that we were still getting at the end of April and was still being advocated by some scientists for a couple of months after that was not a primary cause of concern. It's a matter of what you know at the time." You can read more about what we learnt at the Covid inquiry in Wales here.
Mr Drakeford was given his special recognition award by Care Forum Wales last month. Chair Mario Kreft went as far as to describe Mr Drakeford as "one of the heroes of Covid". Giving the award, Mr Kreft said: “As a former Professor of Social Policy and Applied Social Sciences at Cardiff University, he was uniquely well qualified to understand the challenges facing the sector when he was elected to represent Cardiff West and later serve in a number of ministerial positions, including health and local government, before becoming the leader of our nation in 2018.
“That understanding and empathy was absolutely crucial when the world was turned upside down by Covid-19 and his leadership was a shining light that plotted a reassuringly cautious path through the dark days of the pandemic. One thing that made a big difference was that the Welsh Government led by Mark Drakeford sought input and guidance from the sector.
“We had regular dialogue including weekly meetings with the Ministers of Health and Social Services so the level of access we had with the decision makers was far greater than any other part of the UK." Support award-winning journalism with WalesOnline’s Premium app on Apple or Android
Ms Marsh-Rees continued: "We 100% know from people that ran care homes, there was no PPE and even when there was, it's, you know, it was an apron and a surgical mask, which we know now would not protect anyone. You know, it's not just that there was no oxygen, there was not even morphine drives. So, whilst my father died in hospital, and that was awful, at least he had end of life care, these poor people, residents of care homes, died the most awful death."
Ms Marsh-Rees described how she believed there were others in the care sector who could have been rewarded for their work during the pandemic. She claimed: "It's unjust for the carers. It's unjust for the care home owners."
She told how she remained concerned about how prepared care homes were for another pandemic, as she said: "There will be another one of these". She added: "Could Care Forum Wales list out all of the things he [Mr Drakeford] has done for care homes and are they now placed for another pandemic?"
Care Forum Wales council member Sanjiv Joshi said: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with all bereaved families who suffered loss during the pandemic. Staff and managers working in care homes and those providing domiciliary care were on the frontline throughout, putting their lives on the line in meeting the harrowing and unprecedented challenges and heartbreakingly we also lost much loved members of staff as well as residents.
“While the response of the Welsh Government was not perfect, as the pandemic progressed its support for and engagement with the sector increased and overall the policies here were more cautious and considered and the social care sector in Wales did receive far better support than our counterparts in other parts of the UK. Our care workers were rewarded with bonuses from Welsh Government for their work during the pandemic, they received free PPE and now Welsh Government is funding the Real Living Wage.
“There was recognition of Welsh Government’s role when we held the last Wales Care Awards ceremony which Mark Drakeford attended and was evidenced in the genuine warmth of the reception he received from frontline workers who rose to the challenges heroically to do everything they could to safeguard the residents for whom they provide care.”
