Bereaved daughter claims health board's 'dangerous' behaviour led to father dying alone with Covid

A bereaved woman is calling for an "urgent" inquiry in Wales after her father died with coronavirus in December last year.

Len Lambert, 81, was discharged from hospital without a Covid test and was then readmitted a day later. He went on to die four days after going back into hospital.

Claire Fender said her dad Len "did not deserve to die the way he did" and believes a Wales-led Covid inquiry is essential to bring her and other grieving families justice.

Her calls have been backed by several Welsh political parties and members of the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group, which Claire set up alongside a fellow campaigner.

Welsh Government have so far rejected those calls and insisted a UK-wide inquiry "is the best way for the experiences of people in Wales to be properly understood".

Claire's father was admitted to hospital last year because of a medical issue involving his stomach. However after six days, Claire said he was sent home with "very visible Covid symptoms" and without having had a Covid test.

Within a day he had been readmitted to Singleton Hospital in Swansea but both Claire, her mum and several other members of the family contracted Covid in that time - something Claire said is "categorically" a result of her father being sent home to them while infectious with the virus.

Claire said during his stays in hospital she saw and reported "many issues with infection control" and found communication with medical staff "non-existent", struggling to get updates about her dad's condition.

After four days back in the hospital, Len passed away without any family members by his side.

A few relatives were able to visit Len on the day of his death for 30 minutes each but Claire's mum was isolating and so could not physically go to see him. Claire and her mother both had to say their goodbyes to him via an iPad.

The fact that her father was alone when he died is something Claire finds "very, very difficult to live with".

She said: "My mum's never going to get over that, she is devastated that she was not with my father at the end.

"She was denied that opportunity because the hospital discharged dad while he was infected and they didn't test him."

Not knowing he had infected his wife, Claire added that her dad died without understanding why his wife was not there with him in his last moments.

Speaking about what Len was like, Claire described him as her "absolute hero".

"He was such a family man," she said.

"He loved his family so much he would do absolutely anything for them. He absolutely adored his grandchildren and great grandchildren, he would play with them.

"He would wear my mum out he had so much energy, he was all over the place. He wasn't this frail little old man who was bed bound. The last couple of weeks he was...but usually he just had a zest for life.

"I just hope that I can have a fraction of his strength because he, in all of this, is my absolute hero. He must have been so scared, on his own, with no family around him at the end and to have gone through what he did, I can't imagine."

In Claire's eyes, the hospital executives and Swansea Bay University Health Board acted "irresponsibly" and there was a "total lack of common sense".

"No risk assessment done to see who was vulnerable at home, that is just so irresponsible so dangerous," she said.

"We were asked to protect the NHS but what were the NHS doing to protect us? And I thank all the staff that were putting their lives on the line and I totally acknowledge that, but I blame the executive team ,the health board themselves, not the front line staff, it was the policies."

Swansea Bay University Health Board said they have adhered to "very strict COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures" throughout the pandemic.

They continued: “Just like many other hospitals across the UK, a number of people have acquired COVID-19 while admitted to our hospitals despite these stringent measures, and sadly some people have succumbed to COVID as a result. Some of the people who died from COVID in hospital were infected during their admission, while others were already incubating COVID at the time they came in.

“The health board is currently reviewing all cases where we believe COVID may have been acquired in hospital, so that we can learn from every case and share that learning to ensure that we continue to provide  the highest standards of care while keeping our patients safe.

“Every death from COVID is a tragedy and we recognise the impact that this has had on families and friends when they have lost loved ones.”

• Watch Claire's full story below in the report by Mike Griffiths

Boris Johnson previously announced there would be an independent, UK public inquiry starting in Spring 2022. This will look at the UK Government's handling of the pandemic, which the Prime Minister said will place “the state’s actions under the microscope”.

While the Scottish Government are expected to announce whether they will have their own inquiry, a Welsh Government spokesperson said a UK-wide inquiry will be most effective at overseeing "the interconnected nature of the decisions that have been made across the four nations".

They added that the UK inquiry had "been agreed between all four nations" and they have "requested specific chapters of the inquiry deal exclusively with the lived experiences of those here in Wales". They said this "is the best way for the experiences of people in Wales to be properly understood."

But Claire says a Welsh-specific inquiry is the only way to get "justice", adding that "we need to understand want went wrong, we equally need to understand what went well...but most importantly we need to stop this from ever happening again."

Claire's calls are supported by around 100 people other people who have joined the newly-created group, Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru.

Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, has also said his party "will be putting pressure on the Labour administration in Cardiff Bay to hold an independent inquiry into COVID-19".

He said throughout the pandemic, Labour ministers in The Senedd had "insisted on taking different decisions" to Westminster "but when it comes to scrutiny and accountability, they want Wales consigned to a chapter in a mammoth UK-wide inquiry."

Plaid Cymru's spokesperson for Health and Care, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, too is calling for a Wales-only inquiry to address the fact that many decisions were taken by the devolved Welsh Government. He said "the people of Wales are owed more" than just a chapter in a UK inquiry.