Nationalise care homes
To step in and end hell for the vulnerable ‘Desperate staff denied vital PPE to save money’
to buy up care homes and build new ones, plus £10.8billion a year to run residential social care.
Right now, around 1,500 homes are believed to be on the brink of bankruptcy, which could leave 60,000 vulnerable people homeless. Overall there are half a million people in Britain’s care homes, which prompted a pre-election pledge from PM Boris Johnson to “fix the crisis in social care once and for all” within 100 days. That deadline passed in mid-March. The baroness said: “With Covid-19 the whole care sector has come crashing down because it’s not integrated into the health service.
“What this crisis has done is create an absolute disaster for the most frail and vulnerable people in our society. The NHS system has been prioritised over these elderly people’s lives. The idea of freeing up capacity in the NHS – sending infected older people back to homes where staff didn’t have enough PPE – doesn’t bear thinking about. But that is what has happened.”
Baroness Altmann said taxpayers must pay for integrating health and care, and bailouts may be needed.
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said in New Statesman magazine yesterday our social care has more in common with insurance-led US healthcare than “British values of fairness”.
He said: “I favour social care being provided tax-funded as part of a fullyintegrated health and care system.”
Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said off-shore companies had been “sucking money from the care sector for years”.
CARE homes are accused of gambling with the lives of residents and staff by denying access to personal protective equipment to save money.
Carers report vital gowns, aprons and gloves are being “locked away” by employers claiming they are not needed.
One worker said: “I’m outraged that my life and my family’s lives are at greater risk because certain staff and managers want to play a game of Russian roulette.”
Unison, which said more than 3,600 have contacted its PPE Alert hotline, wants clarification of national guidelines on PPE.
The union said some staff feel like “lambs to the slaughter” and claim they are expected to wear the same masks all day.
RATIONED
One said: “Masks and aprons are being hidden away and gloves rationed to save money.”
Most care homes are facing financial difficulties in the pandemic and managers are withholding kit if a site has no confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Deaths in care homes have outpaced rates in hospitals and the wider community.
Unison assistant general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Care workers simply don’t feel safe.”
She wants the Government to provide “clear, simple and easily accessible guidance so staff know what kit they’re entitled to and to feel confident in challenging employers refusing to provide it”.
Unison says staff are having to choose between risking their lives or paying bills. All those replying to the survey were promised anonymity amid fears of disciplinary action or the axe.
One claimed: “Managers texted us to bring in old duvet covers to be made into gowns.”
Another reported being asked to use rubber gloves.
The Department of Health said: “We are working around the clock to ensure PPE is delivered to the front line.”