Welsh Government apologises after thousands of letters to vulnerable people sent to the wrong addresses
The Welsh Government has been forced to apologise after thousands of letters warning people with underlying health conditions to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic were sent to the wrong addresses.
Seventy five thousand people in Wales have been identified as being at "very high risk" of severe illness from Covid-19 and were advised to stay at home for 12 weeks.
But 13,000 letters, from Wales' Chief Medical Officer, Dr Frank Atherton, went to previous addresses of the intended recipients.
All the letters have been reissued with the Government blaming a "processing error".
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Due to a processing error within the NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS), some shielding letters were posted to a previous address, where the intended recipient had recently moved. All letters have since been reissued to the correct addresses.
“We provided all local authorities with the correct details from the start of this process, and they have been directly contacting each person involved over the past two weeks.
"Supermarkets had also received the correct addresses and have been using these to prioritise delivery slots for people shielding."
There have been almost 6,000 cases of coronavirus confirmed in Wales and more than 400 people have died but Public Health Wales said the true number is "likely to be higher."
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