How prepared was Wales for a pandemic? UK Covid inquiry turns attention to Wales

The Welsh Government's top medics will be giving evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry about how prepared Wales was for a pandemic leading up to 2020. Credit: PA Images

The two most senior medical officials in Wales during the pandemic will be giving evidence to the UK Covid inquiry today, ahead of an appearance by the First Minister tomorrow.

Sir Frank Atherton, the Chief Medical Officer, and Dr Andrew Goodall, who was the Chief Executive of NHS Wales, will both appear before the inquiry chaired by Baroness Hallett.

They'll be asked about Wales' preparedness for a pandemic in terms of how much planning and resources were in place or otherwise before 2020.

Sir Frank Atherton remains as Wales' Chief Medical Officer. Credit: Welsh Government

Last week the former UK Government Health Secretary told the same inquiry that planning for a pandemic in the UK was "completely wrong" while Scotland's First Minister admitted that Scotland had no plan for a non-flu pandemic.

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group said it hopes that its "relentless efforts" will "ensure that Welsh preparedness will get the scrutiny it deserves".

The group added: "Baroness Hallett has demonstrated from the start that she fully understands that decisions made on our behalf as a population in Wales have had deeply personal consequences for each and every one of us.

"We will be closely scrutinising their words to see how what they say compares to our individual and collective lived experiences."

Bereaved Welsh families to play a key role in UK Covid Inquiry
Both men frequently held press conferences during the pandemic. Credit: Welsh Government

On Tuesday Mark Drakeford and former Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething will be answering similar questions.

This week marks the first time that senior figures from Wales have given oral evidence to the inquiry. They have previously submitted written evidence.

They'll give further evidence in the autumn when the inquiry will focus on decision-making in Wales in response to the outbreak of covid.

Nicola Sturgeon giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry at Dorland House in London Credit: PA

When she gave evidence last week Nicola Sturgeon conceded that Scotland had no plan for a non-flu pandemic ahead of Covid-19 arriving in the country in 2020.

The former SNP leader, who was Scotland’s first minister for the duration of the pandemic, told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry there was “thinking” within government around how to deal with infectious diseases which were not flu before the outbreak, but nothing was ever properly laid down in documents.

Also last week, the former UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the inquiry that it had been a “colossal” failure to assume the spread of the virus could not be stopped.

Mr Hancock repeatedly said it was his view that the UK and the western world had been too focused on planning for a “disaster”, such as the numbers who would die from infection and whether there were enough “body bags”.

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