PM’s care home remarks spark angry response

Sector leaders accuse Johnson of ‘rewriting history’, while unions call for investigation

Care home providers and unions in Scotland have condemned Boris Johnson for “deeply offensive” claims that some care homes failed to follow procedures during the coronavirus pandemic.

Donald Macaskill, CEO of Scottish Care, said the prime minister’s remarks were “highly regrettable” and suggested he was rewriting history in order to deflect blame from the UK Government for the high number of care home deaths.

Mr Johnson was also attacked by Robert Kilgour, the Fife-based CEO of Renaissance Care, which runs 15 homes across Scotland including in Blairgowrie.

Mr Kilgour, who has donated large sums to the Tories, said Mr Johnson’s remarks were “deeply disappointing” but added that he would continue to support and donate to the party.

Anger erupted after the prime minister was asked what he made of NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens’ desire to see plans to adequately fund the adult social care sector within a year.

Mr Johnson said: “One of the things the crisis has shown is, we need to think about how we organise our social care package better and how we make sure we look after people better who are in social care.

“We discovered too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have but we’re learning lessons the whole time.”

Afterwards, a Number 10 spokesman claimed Mr Johnson was pointing out that “nobody knew what correct procedures were due to extent of asymptomatic transmission”.

But that explanation failed to placate Dr Macaskill, who was unable to accept that the UK Government did not know of the dangers of infectious people without symptoms being admitted from hospital to care homes.

“He seems to be rewriting his own history in the sense that the commentary from Number 10 subsequent to his comments was that we didn’t know about asymptomatic presentation,” Dr Macaskill said.

Meanwhile, Mr Kilgour said: “The idea that care homes were a priority and had a protective ring put around them by the government is a complete fiction.

“This is about people, not politics, and it’s not the right time to be casting blame around in an ill-informed way.”

Mr Johnson’s views also infuriated union leaders whose members are working on the frontline in care homes.

Deborah Clarke, Unison Scotland’s head of community who represents those working in social care, called for an investigation into the matter.