MARY Care homes are still in crisis
BY WEST SCOTLAND MSP MARY FEE
You would be forgiven for assuming that after four months of a global crisis the Scottish Government would have a handle on the ongoing coronavirus crisis in care homes.
Yet the reality is more distressing.
Care homes have been at the epicentre of the crisis in Scotland as residents and staff have sadly lost their lives. Now there are reports that new residents are not being tested before moving to care homes from the community.
The report that GPs and public health officials are refusing to test new care homes residents is deeply distressing and another issue in a long list of the mismanagement of the crisis for our elderly friends and family in care homes.
Another case of mismanagements is the claim that tracking Covid-19 tests for residents and staff in care homes has been abandoned because it has become unreliable.
The Scottish Government promised regular testing for all care homes residents and staff after pressure from Scottish Labour. Unfortunately, this has not happened and the promise has now been abandoned.
Half of the coronavirus deaths in Scotland have occurred in care homes. The Scottish Government has presided over a crisis in care homes and failed to protect staff and residents.
Enough is enough. The Scottish Government must get a handle on care homes now.
Jobs for Good campaign I am backing Scottish
Labour’s Jobs for Good campaign, which was launched at the weekend.
The campaign calls for the Scottish Government to introduce a quality jobs guarantee scheme.
In the coming months, we will be calling for targeted interventions in public services, the energy sector, manufacturing, tourism and hospitality to prevent further jobs losses when the furlough scheme ends.
Last month, our unemployment rate became the highest of all four nations within the United Kingdom.
We want a jobs guarantee scheme that provides fairer, greener and better jobs.
That means jobs that are paid at the trade union rate, or at least the Real Living Wage, jobs in growth industries to rebuild our economy in a responsible and sustainable way, and employment underpinned by childcare provision.
After a decade of
Tory and SNP cuts, our economy has suffered. That means that families and communities have suffered greatly. As Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: “There is no going back to the old, failed normal”.
The coronavirus crisis has brought into sharp focus just how fragile and unequal Scotland’s labour market really is.
The impact of this global pandemic is beginning to have devastating effects on Scotland’s workers, their livelihoods and their families.
We need rebuild our economy to provide better jobs, tackle poverty and invest in communities.