Is getting more 15 care homes
Government is failing to get funds to frontline workers
lottery on coronavirus screening.
FALLEN short of ensuring the emergency fund was distributed through local authorities.
HANDED over more financial support to closed nail bars and pubs that care homes
DELIVERED just one week’s supply of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Kilgour founded Four Seasons Health Care in 1988 before leaving and forming Renaissance Care in 2004. Its homes in Scotland include Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness and Peterhead.
His family- owned f irm and staff have lost 48 residents across eight of their homes, to the virus.
He said the decision to discharge patients from hospitals into care homes without testing was “a big problem” compounded by a patchy testing regime.
Mandatory screening was only introduced in Scotland on April 21 as part of measures by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman two days af ter the Sunday Mai l revealed the shocking practice of moving potentially infectious patients into homes.
Ki lgour said : “Hospital discharges in Scotland were a big problem – 921 people were discharged into care homes without testing in March and a further 510 in April.
“I don’t understand why we started testing NHS discharges to care homes on April 21, six days after England did. We have now experienced testing across our 15 homes as very much a postcode lottery and that has been a big concern though it has improved dramatically over the last week.
“One hundred and forty- one residents in nine of our 15 homes tested positive and, sadly,
Scotland’s bar and restaurant owners have pleaded for greater use of outdoor areas in a bid to save their businesses. In England, new legislation is expected to be unveiled next week ushering in an “al fresco revolution” for when the hospitality industry reopens on July 4. Local authorities in Glasgow and Edinburgh yesterday said they had no plans to expand outdoor drinking when lockdown is lifted.
The hospitality industry had hoped Nicola Sturgeon would allow the opening of beer gardens last Thursday, but the move was left out of a list of lifted restrictions. Paul 48 died in eight of these homes. When the Scottish Government eventually carried out some blitz testing on staff and residents with no symptoms it was found 10 per cent of residents were positive and seven per cent of staff. “I think these figures show staff and residents with no symptoms were probably in part responsible for the spread in care homes, with the R number estimated to be north of 10. Once it gets in, it does spread like wildfire, sadly. “What this tells us is that staff need testing – ideally twice weekly. We’d settle for weekly but its certainly not happening yet. More funding is needed.” Almost 2500 people have died of Covid-19 in Scotland, with more than half in care homes. Ki lgour added: “Our staf f have been amazing on the
Waterson, of the Scottish Licenced Trade Association, who runs the Golden Lion hotel in Stirling, said: “The difficulty is you have 40 different licencing boards making different decisions. Some have said they won’t change the rules around licencing outdoor areas even in the face of what the hospitality industry is facing.
“We’d urge them to reconsider that.”
Rhona Wheatley, who runs the pub and brewery Glasgow Beer Works, hopes to use five shipping containers in a car park as a makeshift frontline dealing with this tsunami that has faced us. We never ran out of PPE but it was a close run thing.
“We got one delivery of PPE to each care home of a week’s supply d irect f rom the Scot t ish Government between April 20 and April 26. That is all we got.
“An important point that is not publicised enough is that 90 per cent of residents who developed Covid-19 in our care homes went on to recover thanks to the dedication of staff.”
He also revealed concerns about contact tracing.
He said : “The Scot t ish Government’s Test and Protect scheme is a big worry for us.
“If a few of our staff on shift get a text saying that they have to isolate then does that mean that everyone on that shift that they have been in contact with need to go home and how do we replace those staff?
“There is a threat of a second beer garden to attractt punters. She said: “We’re hoping the licensing board approves our plans but it’s been a tricky few months.”
The Scottish Government said local authorities were being encouraged to consider beer garden and outdoor seating proposals, adding: “This could see relaxation of planning controls to help business restart while taking account of public health and other guidance, enabling on-street seating for cafes and bars and beer gardens.” wave so we are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best at the moment.”
A Scott ish Government spokeswoman said: “We are supporting care homes through init ial funding of a lmost £60million across the social care sector.
“We have made very clear how important the safety, protection and wellbeing of residents and staff in care homes is to us.
“That is why we have taken a number of steps to significantly expand testing for people working in care homes.
“We also stepped in to support care homes with supplies of PPE, over and above the primary responsibility of care home owners to provide PPE for their staff.
“Since March, we have distributed more than 69million items of PPE for social care from the national stock.
“The majority has been used by care homes.”