My father, Ian Marsh-Rees, died from hospital-acquired Covid-19 on 23 October 2020, the day the Welsh ‘firebreak’ lockdown started. The circuit breaker came way too late.
My father went into hospital for a gallbladder infection but ended up on a non-Covid ward with 20 patients and 11 staff, all with Covid. There was zero infection control despite the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board assuring us lessons had been learned following the first wave earlier in 2020. Twelve of these patients died from Covid.
Having failed to get – to this day – answers from the health board, I discovered many others in Wales in a similar position. Our group, Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru, was established in July 2021 to call for a Wales inquiry to find out what happened in Wales, where health and social care are devolved, and why.
