COVID-19 National Review

We have published the findings from our COVID-19 themed national review.

This review draws together the findings from all assurance activity undertaken since March 2020. More than 110 checks were conducted across Wales over the period, focusing on the extent to which healthcare services provided safe and effective care to patients during this time, as well as how the health and wellbeing of staff was supported.

To support healthcare providers to focus their resources on keeping people safe, we adapted our approach to assurance and inspection work by revising the focus of when and how we conducted our work. This included developing a new approach to gaining assurance remotely and using more traditional onsite inspection activity where the risk to patient safety was very high or where new models of care had been introduced at pace, for example field hospitals and mass vaccination centres. Throughout the pandemic, this work was supported by our ongoing review of intelligence, including information and concerns received via our first point of contact and notifications from healthcare organisations about incidents. We also worked closely with partner organisations.

Overall, we found that the quality of care provided across Wales during the pandemic was of a good standard.

You can read the full report below.