Probe into care deaths must be a priority, say grieving families
Bereaved relatives of some of the 2,000 residents who died of Covid-19 in Scotland’s care homes yesterday urged Holyrood’s health committee to launch a short, urgent inquiry into the disaster.
Alan Wightman of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, a Uk-wide relatives’ group which campaigns for a judge-led inquiry, said a short committeeled probe could make recommendations to ministers that could save lives this winter.
The call has been backed by MSPS on the committee and comes after Health Secretary Jeane Freeman insisted there would be a public inquiry but refused to deny it could take years.
More than 2,000 deaths in care homes have been linked to the virus.
A care home in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, reported 13 coronavirus deaths on Friday, with another seven residents and 11 staff positive.
Meanwhile, NHS Borders reported 28 cases at a housing complex for elderly people in Peebles yesterday. The health board said 16 tenants and 12 staff at Dovecot Court tested positive.
The Scottish Parliament voted for the immediate launch of a judge-led inquiry on November 4 but Holyrood ministers have yet to act.
Ms Freeman told MSPS last week: “Members should be under no illusion, setting up a public inquiry is not a quick exercise.”
Mr Wightman, whose mother Helen died of coronavirus in a Fife care home, said: “For me, it’s all about saving lives, not about finger pointing and apportioning blame. There are people dying every day because they didn’t learn the lessons from March and April.
“However, it seems clear the health secretary is going to do everything in her power to delay a public inquiry until after the Scottish elections in May, which is not acceptable. It won’t be a public inquiry but nonetheless it serves to keep a focus on the matter and keep the pressure on ministers to do the right thing, which is obviously to hold a public inquiry, as parliament has directed them to do.”
Lib Dems’ Alex Cole-hamilton, a member of the committee, said: “People are being moved between hospitals and care homes every single day and in some cases their Covid status is not entirely known.
“If setting up a shortlife inquiry in the health committee is the only route to getting these families swift access to answers, justice and an apology then we should absolutely do it now.”
Lewis Macdonald MSP, health and sport committee convener, said: “We fully empathise with Mr Wightman’s concerns. He is right to press for an urgent investigation and full transparency on the reasons for this.”
A Public Health Scotland report, commissioned by the health minister after revelations in The Sunday Post, said it can not exclude a “moderate to large excess risk” of an outbreak from a care home receiving a patient who had tested positive.
The PHS report confirmed 113 patients with Covid were moved, with 52 transferred within a week of a positive diagnosis, 38 within eight to 14 days.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon insisted hospital transfers were not statistically significant in the spread of Covid but PHS later said it was “likely hospital discharges are the source of introduction of infection in a small number of cases”. That statement was not in the report.