Disappearing messages used by health minister during Covid, inquiry hears

1. The UK Covid-19 inquiry has arrived in Cardiff and will scrutinise the Welsh government's handling of the pandemic
2. The inquiry covers decision-making during the pandemic by the UK government and the devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
3. Despite telling the Senedd he did not use WhatsApp, the inquiry hears First Minister Mark Drakeford was regularly using it to discuss policy announcements
4. Vaughan Gething, who was health minister during the pandemic, used disappearing messages, the inquiry hears
5. The inquiry hears the Welsh government’s cabinet did not discuss coronavirus until a month after the UK government did at the beginning of 2020
6. One question the inquiry is looking at is whether the Welsh government should have advised against mass gatherings earlier than it did
7. More than 12,000 people in Wales have died with Covid since the pandemic was declared in March 2020

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The inquiry has ended for the day, and we’ll be bringing our live page coverage of proceedings to a close shortly.

Join us again tomorrow, when we’ll continue to bring you the latest developments and analysis from the Covid inquiry in Wales.You can see more about the day's events in our story here.

WhatsApps were not used for decision-making, says government lawyer

The Welsh government’s barrister Andrew Kinnier KC has insisted that WhatsApp was not used to make decisions during the pandemic.

He said a careful consideration of documents "shows that neither Welsh ministers or senior officials used WhatsApps or indeed any other form of informal communication as a substitute for or supplemental means of decision-making”.

Reading from a statement from First Minister Mark Drakeford, Kinnier said: “The pandemic touched the lives of everyone - my own, my colleagues, our communities, but none more so than the many families who lost loved ones.”

Kinnier said a regular rhythm of meetings was not established between heads of governments because the former prime minister Boris Johnson “was anxious to avoid creating the impression that the UK was a federal state”.

Kinnier said that did not meet “the scale of events confronting all four nations”.

While there was much to commend the UK Treasury’s response to the pandemic, it reinforced and illustrated the unresponsiveness of the department, Kinnier said.

He said this was best demonstrated by the discussions that led to the firebreak lockdown in Wales, when the Treasury refused to bring a job support scheme forward.

Employers were 'failing to take sufficient precautions' against Covid

Sam Jacobs, representing the Wales Trades Union Congress (WTUC), focused on the “loss and sacrifice” of those in the workplace.

Jacobs struck a positive tone, saying the WTUC genuinely felt “able to advocate for the rights and safety of workers at the very top levels of decision-making and felt that their input was taken into account”.

He acknowledged “frictions” in the relationship, but said the Welsh government appeared to avoid the dysfunction seen in Westminster.

Jacobs said the social care workforce is generally undervalued and underpaid, and at the time of the pandemic many in the sector felt “forgotten, with little press coverage - even at the time”.

More broadly, he said it was often the poorest in society who had the least ability to comply with measures and the least opportunity to work from home.

He aired comments from academics that said people in ethnic minorities were more likely to be employed in sectors that increase their risk of exposure to infectious agents.

Jacobs added that in Wales unions found “consistent evidence that a significant number of employers were failing to take sufficient precautions against the disease”.

Children's rights impact assessments were 'often completed late'

UK Covid-19 inquiry

David Gardner is a barrister representing the children’s commissioner for Wales

David Gardner, barrister for the children’s commissioner for Wales, said Prof Sally Holland – who was Wales’ children’s commissioner during the pandemic - expected all decisions to be taken using a children’s rights impact assessment (Cria).

Her experience was that they were often completed late, and were “far removed” from the relevant decision.

“Retro-fitting” Cria analysis to fit decisions that had already been taken was not a unique phenomenon to the pandemic, Gardner said.

But he said this was exacerbated by the tight timeframes for decision-making during the pandemic.

For some major decisions, including relating to schools, no impact assessment for children was taken at the time, he said.

Impact on vulnerable groups scrutinised

Jenny Rees

BBC Wales health correspondent

Groups representing the bereaved, the care sector, and disabled people have raised strong points about the indirect harms caused by decisions made in Wales.

Restrictions interrupted the ability to provide care for those in homes – for sores, for dehydration, for pain.

People spent their final months alone.

But the arguments today aren't that there was insufficient understanding of the indirect harms, but that it was ignored. Or not adequately sought out.

As Danny Friedman, the KC representing Disability Wales, points out: “Wales knew it had an older and poorer population – why did it not make itself more ready to protect them?”

'Unprecedented' disability task force in Wales

Friedman also said the Welsh government had set up a disability task force which was “unprecedented” in the UK - although he added that it was under Welsh government watch that the use of "do not resuscitate" notices “proliferated in an unaccountable fashion”.

Letters issued by a GP surgery in Maesteg suggested to elderly, frail and disabled people that it was “better to use resources on the young and fit” who were said to “have a greater chance of survival”, Friedman said.

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A GP surgery in Maesteg apologised after sending a letter asking patients with life-limiting illnesses to complete a "do not resuscitate" form

UK 'pulled in disastrous different directions'

Danny Friedman, from Disability Wales and Disability Rights UK, asked in his opening statement: "If Wales knew it had an older, poorer population, why did it not make itself more ready to protect them?”

Friedman said there were features of relations between different UK governments that “pulled in disastrous differently directions”.

That included not inviting Welsh representatives to the first five meetings of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), a committee of scientists, mainly from academia, responsible for advising ministers on Covid.

It also included “truly fatal disputes about the timings” of job support in mid-October 2020, Friedman said.

Attention turns to impact on care homes

Adam Straw KC, counsel for John’s Campaign and Care Rights UK, said in his opening statement that elderly care residents were at the “sharp end” of the pandemic, in terms of group size and vulnerability.

As well as a “massive failure in infection” control, his remarks covered indirect harm to many residents who did not have Covid – including those in care homes who died of non-Covid causes.

Straw also touched on issues around guidance, which he said could be conflicting and confusing, as well as restrictions on access for relatives who were carers.

Another issue they plan to raise in the inquiry is a general lack of support for the care sector.

WhatsApp messages could ramp up pressure on Gething

Gareth Lewis

Political Editor, BBC Wales

Getty Images

Vaughan Gething is campaigning to be new Welsh Labour leader and first minister

The spotlight can be a fickle friend for politicians.

It appeared to be shining favourably on Vaughan Gething when he was dealing with the high-profile fallout from Tata steel.

But the row over campaign donations and now these WhatsApp revelations make that light shine more harshly.

Gething is campaigning to be new Welsh Labour leader and first minister, and the Wales module of the inquiry always posed a potential risk.

He got into difficulties last July after admitting he had not read some pandemic preparedness documents; there is the WhatsApp development today, and then a day answering the inquiry's questions again next month.

And more widely than Gething: will WhatsApp prove as big a deal in Wales as it was in Scotland?

Welsh government response should be judged 'by its own standards'

Nia Gowman also said that any government “would be hard pressed to match the shocking display of arrogance and central government toxicity within Westminster at that crucial time”.

But she said the Welsh government “must be judged not solely by comparison to what was happening in Westminster, but by its own standards”.

She said the group remains “bitterly disappointed” at the lack of a Wales-specific inquiry.

BreakingVaughan Gething used disappearing messages during the pandemic, inquiry hears

Vaughan Gething used disappearing messages while he was Wales' health minister during the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has heard.

Nia Gowman, on behalf of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group, said “limited messages” disclosed show WhatsApp and text messages used to discuss Welsh government business were "where they shouldn’t have been".

"They show Welsh government senior special advisors suspiciously and systematically deleting communications."

Messages sent by special advisers to ministers reminding them to “clear out WhatsApp chats once a week”, Gowman said.

She said it showed “the most senior special advisor for the first minister for Wales, and Vaughan Gething, minister for health, turning on disappearing messages”.

Despite telling the Senedd he did not use WhatsApp, First Minister Mark Drakeford was regularly using it to discuss policy announcement and seek clarifications on the rules, Gowman said.

Was there a failure of leadership, asks inquiry lawyer

Concluding his opening remarks, Tom Poole KC said the Welsh government had to make extremely serious and far-reaching decisions, which were literally a matter of life or death.

But the inquiry would ask if those decisions were sufficiently thought through, with sufficient speed and justifiable in light of the knowledge available, Poole said.

He added evidence may show the odds were always stacked against Wales, but it may also show a failure of technical insight, or that the consequences of a lack of control measures were properly understood.

Poole added that the inquiry would ask if there was a failure of leadership and decision-making, saying they sought not only answers, but also hoped to learn from the experiences.

Covid families want lessons learned from pandemic

“I had to call an ambulance with my husband begging me not to… because he’d catch Covid in hospital and die, which ended up being what happened."

This is just some of the harrowing testimony being heard by the UK Covid inquiry as it arrives in Wales.

Bereaved families who lost loved ones during the pandemic and others whose lives were greatly affected by Covid are hoping for answers.

They recall the “confusing” time when pandemic regulations were changing frequently and hope lessons can be learned.

Wales families want lessons learned from pandemic impact

Should the Welsh government have acted sooner?

Hugh Pym

Health editor

One of the central themes running through the UK Covid inquiry is the devolution settlement and how it fared in the face of the extreme pressures of a global pandemic.

The relationship between the Welsh government and the UK administration at Westminster has already come under sharp focus on the first day of hearings in Cardiff.

Key questions flagged up by inquiry counsel Tom Poole KC included the Welsh government’s response in the early weeks of 2020.

Should ministers in Cardiff have acted sooner to the spread of the virus and pushed Westminster harder for action?

Decision-makers in Cardiff first discussed Covid in late February - a month after ministers in London had first considered the threat.

But the KC noted that there was a divergence in approach between the UK government and the devolved administrations from the spring of that year, including Wales continuing longer with a “stay at home” message.

The frustrations of the Welsh government about lack of consultation by ministers at Westminster will be considered during the course of this phase of the inquiry, including over the controversial 'Eat Out to Help Out' scheme in August 2020.

The inquiry will also consider whether there was a confused message across the UK.

As in the Scottish hearings, the performance of devolved healthcare systems and decision making will feature prominently in the weeks ahead.

A rise in deaths during Covid peaks

The Covid inquiry was reminded of the number of registered deaths involving Covid during the pandemic.

The below chart shows the waves of the pandemic and the how the number of so-called “excess deaths,” - now redefined by the Office for National Statistics as “expected” deaths - rose during the two peaks in April 2020 and again in January 2021.

BBC

Questions raised about patients being released into social care

Although the care sector will be covered elsewhere in the inquiry, the decision to discharge patients from hospitals into social care in Wales will be examined during the Wales section of the hearings.

“There’s evidence that more than 1,000 Welsh patients were discharged from hospital to care homes without a test during March and April 2020,” Tom Poole KC said.

He said that as of 5 June, figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) “suggest that nearly a third of Wales’ Covid-19 deaths had been within care homes”, adding that there was “a massive failure of infection control”, which contributed to the influx of infected but untested patients.

The Welsh government position was that its advice was testing would not be effective for those who were asymptomatic, Poole said, while there was also a lack of testing capacity.

“It is an issue for this inquiry whether this belief could have been genuinely or sensibly held," Poole said.

He said by early April 2020 there was clear evidence that only testing those who were symptomatic missed up to half of care home infections.

This morning's main developments

PA Media

The Wales part of the UK Covid-19 inquiry began this morning, which will scrutinise the Welsh government’s handling of the pandemic

The session has paused for lunch, but we'll continue to bring you analysis and updates from this morning.

Here are some of today's key developments:

• The session began with an opening statement from inquiry chair Baroness Hallett, who acknowledged that some had hoped for an independent Welsh inquiry. She promised the UK inquiry will do its best to fully investigate the major issues in Wales around the pandemic
• The inquiry then watched a film of testimony from bereaved families, which included people's experiences of trying to see relatives in hospital, and of patients catching Covid when they were admitted for other conditions. One daughter appearing in the video said the NHS ultimately failed her father and she wanted to see change
• The morning session also heard extensively from Tom Poole KC, counsel for the inquiry, who outlined the figures of deaths, infections and hospital admissions in Wales during the course of the pandemic. He also said that, as well as looking into the number of deaths, the inquiry will also ask whether the “dreadful consequences” of lockdowns were avoidable
• Another question the inquiry will look at is whether Welsh government should have advised against mass gatherings earlier than it did. Poole said it would look at the government’s advice on mass gatherings for a Wales rugby match that was then cancelled and two Stereophonics concerns that went ahead in Cardiff on 14 and 15 March

Email from health minister describes chaotic hospital scenes

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The inquiry's counsel read out an email Vaughan Gething sent to himself recording the “stark observations" of a hospital consultant who described chaotic hospital scenes

Poole revealed that on the day the Welsh government announced a lockdown, its then-health minister Vaughan Gething sent himself an email recording the “stark observations of a Welsh hospital consultant”.

“Complete chaos at our hospital,” read the email.

“No protection for nurses, very low morale as being asked to care for patients admitted to orthopaedic wards by medics with respiratory symptoms, masks not being released.”

Should mass gatherings have been cancelled earlier?

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The Wales v Scotland match in Cardiff in March 2020 was called off the day before kick-off

One question the inquiry is looking at is whether the Welsh government should have advised against mass gatherings earlier than it did.

Poole tells the inquiry that Lee Waters, who was Wales’ deputy transport minister, said on WhatsApp it was an “odd signal to send” for Labour to have cancelled its Spring 2020 conference but allow 70,000 people to gather in Cardiff for Wales v Scotland.

The match, scheduled for 14 March, was then called off by the Welsh Rugby Union – but not until the day before kick-off and not before 20,000 Scottish rugby fans had made their journeys from Scotland.

Poole said it would look at the government's advice on mass gatherings at two Stereophonics concerts held in Cardiff on 14 and 15 March.

He said the scientific evidence in early March had indicated the benefit of such a ban was not particularly significant, “but gatherings were not without some risk”.

Counsel asks if Welsh government was adequately prepared for pandemic

Poole said the Welsh government’s cabinet did not discuss Covid until 25 February - “a whole month” after it was discussed by the UK government’s cabinet for the first time.

Setting out a timeline of how the UK and Welsh governments responded in early 2020, Poole says the chief medical officer Sir Frank Atherton gave advice on 24 February that there was a “significant risk” the virus would arrive in Wales.

“Were the consequences of the lack of any control measures adequately understood?," he asked.