Covid: Wales-specific inquiry call from grieving son

[ritcha filterfar]

A man whose parents both died in the pandemic has said there needs to be a Wales-specific Covid public inquiry.

James Heaton, 43, from Pontypridd said "lessons need to be learnt" to prevent others going through the "sheer hell" he has been through.

Wales' first minister said his government's decisions should be scrutinised in a UK-wide inquiry.

The Conservatives and Plaid Cymru said they would call a Wales inquiry if they were in power after May's election.

The older people's commissioner Helena Herklots said a Wales inquiry as well as a UK one would be "useful" as it could provide "additional scrutiny".

But the British Medical Association said "Welsh actions" had been dependent on UK policy and should be "assessed in the round" as part of a UK inquiry.

Mr Heaton's parents, Frank and Ann Heaton, died within weeks of each other last autumn.

He described them as a "very happy, self-contained couple," adding that it was rare to see "one without the other".

Frank, 74, developed mild pneumonia in September.Mr Heaton said his father was "persuaded" by another doctor to go into the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant.

Five days later he was "rallying well" and his discharge from hospital was being planned.

But his condition then declined and he died the following Wednesday, 11 days after going into hospital, and his primary cause of death was Covid-19.

Mr Heaton said he believed his father caught the virus in hospital and that hospital-acquired infections are one area a public inquiry should scrutinise.

"The overall rate was so low but it seemed to go very high very quickly in that particular hospital," he said.

"Why did some particular areas get such a high infection rate at a time when the overall infection rate was so low?

"Was it assumed with the low infection rates in late summer we were on top of it and it was dying out?

"What could have been done to prevent this?"

Just over a week after Frank's death, Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board said 25 people had died with Covid after an outbreak at the Royal Glamorgan, a figure which later rose significantly.

Greg Dix, director of nursing, midwifery and patient care at the health board, said it apologises to "anyone who has felt let down".

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