PHW boss’ disbelief after UK Government ‘told Roche to prioritise tests for England’
THE UK Government told a pharmacy firm to prioritise Covid tests for England over Wales, according to leaked emails from Welsh health officials.
E-mails from Public Health Wales accused England’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) of prioritising Covid test supplies.
However, DHSC denied that England had priority over Wales.
Just before the first lockdown on March 21, 2020, the Welsh Government set a target of 6,000 tests a day by April 1, 8,000 by April 7, and a target of 9,000 by the end of the month.
A big part of their confidence in hitting this was the fact they had – or thought they had – secured an agreement with pharmaceutical giant Roche to provide 5,000 tests per day.
However, this deal fell through, meaning that Wales missed its target.
This was confirmed via internal Public Health Wales (PHW) emails secured through a Freedom of Information Request by Channel 4.
The emails demonstrate both that PHW felt they had been treated badly by the UK Government and that they did not manage to secure a written agreement.
The emails are from a range of people within both the Welsh and UK Government as well as a representative from Roche.
The bulk of the emails involve Public Health Wales chief executive Tracey Cooper.
Within it, she lists the PHW Wales version of events after the deal collapses.
These include:
Negotiations
started with Roche on March 2; PHW “found it hard to pin Roche down to a written agreement”;
PHW “understands” that the UK Government “instructed” the company to “reserve all additional Covid tests” to be used in England;
PHW believed they had agreed that a team from Roche would configure some machinery to make it able to handle Covid tests as well as supplying the tests themselves. However, in an email summarising what happened Tracey Cooper said: “It is clear that they [Roche] have no plan to come to Wales .... and that they are being instructed by DHSC [Department for Health and Social Care] and following those instructions”.
In an email to several high-ranking Welsh health officials including NHS chief executive Andrew Goodall and Wales’ Chief Medical Officer Frank Atherton, Ms Cooper said that “it is clear the situation is rather chaotic” and that “agreements that have been made are not being honoured”.
She adds that “with the political environment we cannot be assured that other commitments will be met”.
She goes on to conclude that “the UK Government has clearly prioritised the use of a company’s testing for the purposes of England’s allocation despite having had advanced discussions with Roche and an email confirmation”.
Though First Minister Mark Drakeford put a brave face on it, this was a crippling blow to any chance of Wales hitting 9,000 tests by the end of April. Some of these tests did come back to Wales as part of the split between the home nations only 19% of the tests were used here.
Wales didn’t even come close to hitting the 9,000 target.
At a time the WHO was saying “test, test, test” PHW clearly felt they had been undercut by the UK Government.
A spokesman for the Department for Health and Social Care told Channel 4: “It is untrue that testing resources were unfairly allocated at the beginning of the pandemic or that England’s testing needs were prioritised over any other nation.
“In the last year, we have built the largest network of diagnostic testing facilities in British history which has conducted more than 140 million tests. In March 2020 a UK-wide approach to testing was agreed with the four nations including Wales.
“This combined approach significantly increased the buying power of the UK as a whole, leading to an improved ability to secure the resources required for each nation.
“A UK-wide testing programme has always been at the heart of the government’s testing strategy, with tests allocated fairly per population to ensure equitable access to testing for everybody in all four nations.”
Roche insisted it “did not have a separate contract or agreement with Wales” to supply tests.
The firm claimed its only communication was for the setting up of equipment.
So why didn’t the Welsh Government speak out over Westminster commandeering the deal?
The key part of the reason is that the Welsh Government needed to keep a cordial relationship with the UK Government because Wales was reliant on England for testing.
The original requests for the information contained in these emails by Andy Davies from C4 were rejected on the grounds they “would, or would be likely to prejudice relations between two or more United Kingdom administrations”.
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said: “This new evidence proves that Wales’ efforts against Covid were deliberately undermined by the UK Government during the crucial first months of the pandemic.
“This is nothing short of a national scandal that shows the extent to which Westminster treats Wales with contempt. We urgently need answers as to why the Labour Welsh Government chose to stay silent instead of speaking out against the harmful actions of the Tory UK Government.
“These are not the actions of a government that stands up for Wales.”