Claims care body ‘not fit for purpose’

Regulator accused of not answering calls for help amid care home crisis

The Scottish care watchdog accused of being “posted missing” during the coronavirus outbreak has not been answering phone calls since lockdown began, The Courier can reveal.

The Care Inspectorate has also had to make a U-turn on a policy of not directly inspecting care homes during the pandemic as concerns mount about the high death rate, shortages of protective kit for staff and lack of information being made available to the public.

Last night, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the Dundeebased organisation was “not fit for purpose” and called on the government to intervene.

The Care Inspectorate shuttered its city headquarters in March when the lockdown restrictions came into force, with all staff working from home and nobody manning its complaint hotline.

It means the Scottish public are being asked to make all complaints about care homes, which have found themselves at the epicentre of the outbreak north of the border, by email.

It is possible to leave a voicemail on the hotline, which the watchdog says is being monitored.

However, a source at the Scottish Social Services Council said it had been receiving calls from people who had been unable to reach the Care Inspectorate with pleas for help.

On its website the inspectorate says it is following government guidance about working from home to keep staff safe and has had to change the way it handles inquiries from the public.

The statement gives an email address and says people should check its website in the first instance.

Offices are closed until further notice, it says, and it is unable to receive correspondence by post.

Last night, a spokesman for the watchdog said it was “not aware” of any issues with the system and insisted call backs were being made “within 24 hours”.

He said: “The Care Inspectorate is inspecting services and will take robust action where that is required, as evidenced by its recent inspection of Home Farm care home in Skye.

“We do so in a risk-assessed way, and our approach is informed by Public Health advice given the significant risk that our staff could transmit or spread Covid-19 in services and as agreed with Scottish Government.

“In response to the pandemic, we adopted a different approach to ensure we continue to carry out our scrutiny role while minimising risk of infection transmission.”

Official figures suggest as many as 45% of all Scottish coronavirus deaths have been in care homes and 42% of homes have reported at least one suspected case to the inspectorate.

However, there have been concerns about transparency and the scarcity of information being made available to families, politicians and the wider public.

Some providers – including Balhousie Care Group, which has 22 homes across Tayside and Fife, and Barchester, which runs Ochil care home in Perth and South Grange nursing home in Monifieth – have been criticised for refusing to state publicly if there have been any Covid-19related deaths in their homes.

Ms Baillie said the Care Inspectorate, which has 14 offices across Scotland including its Dundee HQ, had been “posted missing” as she took part in the Scottish Parliament’s Covid-19 committee and the debate on the latest emergency coronavirus Bill.

The legislation will require care homes to make daily reports to the Care Inspectorate, which will then have to inform Parliament on a weekly basis.

She later told The Courier: “At a time of unprecedented hardship in the care sector, the public would rightly expect the Care Inspectorate to step up to the plate.

“Instead they have been posted missing and taken a light-touch approach.

“The very least you would expect from the watchdog overseeing the institutions at the epicentre of this pandemic is to be contactable by phone. It is frankly farcical that they are not.

“The truth is that this organisation is not fit for purpose and Scottish ministers must intervene and get a grip of the situation.”

The Courier’s revelations came after Health Secretary Jeane Freeman welcomed the Care Inspectorate changing its stance on direct inspections.

Speaking at Holyrood, she told Ms Baillie: “The Care Inspectorate took a view, as they were entitled to do, that in the face of the pandemic, the safest (option) in terms of residents at the care home, was to undertake inspections and engagement with care homes that did not involve directly appearing in the home.

“The Care Inspectorate have now changed that position and I am glad that they have – in order to directly inspect what is happening in those care homes.

“That, I think, is a welcome change of decision from them.”

Instead they have been posted missing and taken a light-touch approach. JACKIE BAILLIE MSP

The Care Inspectorate’s Compass House HQ on Riverside Drive, Dundee, is closed during lockdown.