COVID inquiry hears initial PPE stockpiles in Wales were 'not fit for purpose'

Initial stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE) in Wales were “not fit for purpose”, according to the country’s former health minister.

Vaughan Gething made the admission in written evidence to the UK COVID inquiry.

The inquiry is in its second week of hearings in Cardiff, focusing on decisions taken by the Welsh government during the pandemic.

In his witness statement, Mr Gething said the government had “underestimated how quickly the PPE pandemic stockpile would be used up”.

He added the government had also underestimated “that a small amount of [its] stockpile was not fit for purpose”.

It comes after the inquiry heard last week the PPE supply in Welsh care homes was “inconsistent”.

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PPE supply in Welsh care homes was ‘inconsistent’, COVID Inquiry hears

Mr Gething was minister for health and social care at the time and is standing in the Welsh Labour leadership race to succeed Mark Drakeford.

On Tuesday, the inquiry heard from Dr Andrew Goodall, former director general for health and social services and chief executive of NHS Wales.

Dr Goodall now serves as the Welsh government’s permanent secretary – a role he’s held since 2021.

He told the inquiry a two-week firebreak lockdown in Wales in October 2020 should have been “longer”.

“I think a longer firebreak would have been preferable, but there were genuine funding limitations from a Welsh government perspective,” he said.

“And ministers, of course, were very mindful of the wider harms that needed to be determined outside of the NHS itself.”

The inquiry also heard that Dr Goodall hadn’t been invited to top COVID meetings in the early days of the pandemic.

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When asked by the counsel to the inquiry, Tom Poole KC, about his attendance at COBRA meetings, Dr Goodall said he “wasn’t directly invited”.

“The first minister, or the minister attending, would decide which official they would wish alongside them, but there was a constraint on attendance numbers,” he added.

“So from a Welsh government perspective, while it might have been helpful to attend, ultimately there was a limit on the numbers who could accompany the minister or the first minister.”

The inquiry continues.

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