Care home worker dies after contracting virus
Politicians have criticised the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) after a care home worker in Scotland with suspected Covid-19 died.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said access to protective clothing and equipment for health and social care staff is a “problem across Scotland” and called on the Scottish Government to take urgent action.
Sources confirmed a care home worker in Scotland suspected of having the virus has died.
Ms Baillie, who represents Dumbarton, said: “This very sad news will come as a great blow to the family and to my local community. My thoughts are with them and I share in their grief. It is clear that access to protective clothing and equipment for health and social care staff is a problem across Scotland.
The party’s health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said she has written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon calling for a guarantee on protective equipment.
She said: “The death of a member of the social care family will be met with great sadness. Social care staff are the unsung heroes of the coronavirus pandemic.”
She added: “Home carers in my region have been asked to use PPE sparingly due to scarce supplies. This is far from an isolated example and I have written to the First Minister asking her to guarantee safe systems of work for all social care staff because lives are at stake.”
Hazel Nolan, an official of the GMB union, added: “It would be inappropriate to comment on any individual case. We do not know the facts. Advice to home carers was changed at the end of last week under pressure from GMB Scotland.
“Advice and guidance to home care workers has been resource-led, not science-led. It was about the lack of PPE, not the need for it.”