CARE WORKERS RAISE PPE FEARS
Union boss claims staff told taking temperatures was ‘an overreaction’
AHOME care worker from West Dunbartonshire has died from Covid 19 amid claims that social care staff are struggling to access protective gear and virus testing.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the death as it emerged that some care homes in Scotland are struggling with vacancy rates of 40 per cent.
Sturgeon said: “Their death is a reminder that people working in our health and care services are not simply showing immense dedication and expertise, they’re also displaying great courage.”
It emerged at the weekend that 16 residents at the Burlington Court Care Home in Glasgow died in the space of eight days last week in a suspected coronavirus outbreak. Two of the home’s employees are being treated in hospital after testing positive for Covid-19.
There are now claims that 11 residents of Castleview Care Home in Dumbarton have died in the past 10 days from an outbreak of Covid-19, and that protective masks had been locked away.
In a letter to Labour MSP Jackie Baillie, GMB trade union regional secretary Gary Smith said management told care home staff they were “overreacting and causing panic by taking temperatures”.
He added: “Very worryingly we are advised that at the start of the outbreak face masks were actually locked away by management and staff were told they did not need to use them.
“Concerns have also been raised about staffing levels and specifically levels of nursing cover.”
HC One, who operate the home, have been contacted for comment.
Veteran care home entrepreneur Robert Kilgour, chairman of Scottish care home operator Renaissance Care, said the sector was being asked “to do too much with too little” and that there was a feeling that “care home staff are being treated as ‘cannon fodder’ and ‘second-class carers’”.
He said: “There has been a huge increase in the cost of PPE [personal protective equipment] and increasingly long delays in their delivery, especially face masks. There have also been instances of equipment ordered by care homes being diverted to the NHS.
“The impact on the morale of care staff of PPE shortages and the increasing number of residents with Covid-19 symptoms in care homes has been massive.”
He added that some hospitals were refusing to admit care home patients with Covid-19 symptoms if they were older than 75, and that care home staff and residents were not being tested for the disease “on any meaningful and helpful scale”.
Mr Kilgour said: “The growing number of care home residents with Covid-19 symptoms are simply not being tested, and if and when they sadly die, their deaths will probably be classified as chest infection or pneumonia.”
Kirsty Cartin, manager of the Inchinnan Care Home in Renfrewshire, said her home is struggling to access masks, gloves and aprons from their local PPE hub despite now having 15 residents isolated in their rooms with coronavirus symptoms.
Their first, and only, supply of PPE to date was delivered last week and is already running low.
Ms Cartin said the masks also appeared to be out of date, with a “use by 2021” sticker covering a 2016 expiry date.
Guidance for use of PPE in care homes was updated by Health Protection Scotland last week, and included advice that a single mask could now be worn to deal with several residents.
“That goes against the original guidance,” said Ms Cartin. “They’ve always said you have to change your mask between residents and a maximum of 20 minutes uses.”
Four staff are currently off sick and Ms Cartin said the care home has remained operational only because existing staff were working extra hours and skipping days off.