04/23/2024

Wales News Online

Local & National News for Wales

AM expresses concerns over unreported COVID-19 related deaths by Health Boards

IT has been revealed that the Hywel Dda University Health Board has been under-reporting deaths from Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Thirty one deaths had not been included in the Public Health Wales statistics.

This follows a report into why the Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board failed to report 84 deaths.

Hywel Dda Health Board medical director Dr Philip Kloer said: “We apologise for any distress caused by this but can assure families that they have received accurate information, at the time, about the death of their loved ones.

“This error relates not to how we register deaths, but how we uniformly and in a timely manner share this data with Public Health Wales.

“We have now corrected this position and from tomorrow, data on Hywel Dda UHB published by Public Health Wales will reflect the current position accurately.”

Also the Health Minister Vaughan Gething said families who had lost loved ones were informed at the time.

The revelations from two health Boards in means 115 deaths across West and North Wales were initially missing from official Public Health Wales figures.

Plaid Cymru’s Helen Mary Jones expressed concern at “over 100 Covid-19 deaths under-reporting on this government’s watch”.

Angela Burns the Welsh Conservatives health spokeswoman, said the news was “shocking”.

“I and my Welsh Conservative colleagues are calling on the Welsh Labour government to review the way suspected Covid-19 deaths are recorded as a matter of utmost urgency, and to embed a culture of compliance with reporting protocols throughout NHS Wales,” she said.

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