Speaking in a House of Commons debate on Covid-19 last week, Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies revealed that nearly 800 cases have been brought to him by constituents as a result of the pandemic and said a significant proportion of the workload has resulted from there not being a united approach to dealing with the crisis across the country.
James reflected on the challenges he has been faced with over the past few months, including having to deal with Covid-19 symptoms himself. His zoom contribution can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/chvdj9Ltpl0.
He also paid tribute to all key workers and volunteers, thanked the UK Government for the generous packages of support for individuals and businesses, and highlighted the array of problems which have resulted from the Welsh Government taking a different approach to dealing with the pandemic.
He said:
“During the pandemic, many have turned to their MP for help, and so far nearly 800 cases have been brought to me by constituents. That has proven to be a challenge at times - especially while I have been struggling with covid symptoms myself - but it has been rewarding to assist so many people. I thank all who have joined me in working around the clock to provide responses. I must also thank key workers at this immensely challenging time and pay tribute to all who have volunteered to help their communities.
“I welcome the generous package that the Government have introduced to support individuals and businesses. A great number of my constituents have expressed their thanks for these schemes, and I would like to add my own thanks for the hard work that has been undertaken by Ministers, officials and industry representatives to construct these programmes.
“In such difficult times as these, a united approach across our country is vital, and regrettably, much of my time over the last several weeks has been spent dealing with confusion and anxiety where that has not been the case.”
James said one of the greatest issues in his mailbag has been the difficulty of obtaining supermarket delivery slots, because the Welsh Government were initially unable to provide supermarkets with electronic lists of shielded patients, and the online form for registering as a vulnerable person would not accept applications from Wales.
He said problems have also been caused by Wales not embracing the very successful GoodSAM volunteering scheme, which resulted in far fewer volunteers being registered in Wales, and from the delay in sending out shielding letters in Wales, in comparison with the situation in England.
James also referred to the fact that as covid testing has been ramped up in England, the Welsh Government failed to match that, with access to testing still unavailable to many groups.
