Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Heléna Herklots CBE, said:
“I welcome the report published today by Senedd Cymru’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, which examines the significant issues and challenges health and social care services have faced throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The report highlights a number of key issues that have had a particular impact on care homes in Wales – including the Welsh Government’s testing policy and access to crucial PPE – and concludes that care homes have been ‘badly let down during this crisis’, something that is of great concern to me.
“I welcome and support the Committee’s recommendations and it is crucial that the action they have called for is taken forward by the Welsh Government.
“In my recently published Care Home Voices report, I called for the Welsh Government to publish a specific plan of action for care homes, which clearly sets out the action being taken across a number of key areas to protect and support older people and the people who care for them. This would provide much-needed assurance to people living and working in care homes, and allow constructive and responsible scrutiny of the decisions made and the action being taken by the Welsh Government and other public bodies.
“The Committee’s report and the issues it highlights reinforce the pressing need for an action plan, and I hope the Welsh Government will now confirm it will publish one as a matter of urgency.”