Worker: flare-up home ‘filthy’
A WHISTLEBLOWER has branded a care home where 23 residents died from coronavirus as “filthy”.
The care worker at Whitehills Care Home in East Kilbride said staff were bringing in their own cleaning supplies in a bid to control the Covid-19 outbreak.
The home’s operators, Thistle Healthcare, insisted the Care Inspectorate had praised their “high standards of hygiene”.
At the peak of the virus, 39 staff were absent from Whitehills, with agency workers plugging the gaps.
Bosses issued a “red alert” in April, telling the Care Inspectorate they did not have enough staff to care for residents adequately.
The Care Inspectorate visited the home in May but the appraisal sent to the Scottish Parliament praised “good infection prevention and control procedures” and cleanliness and hygiene.
But our source said: “The place was filthy.
“A lot of us brought in disinfectant and I used to clean every surface from door handles to light switches, keyboards – anywhere that folk touched a lot.
“It was a top to bottom clean at the start of a shift. I went behind a domestic one day and I cleaned everything again – the wipe was black.”
The insider was shocked by the Care Inspectorate’s report, adding: “I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I thought they were talking about a different home.”
Our source also claimed staff were told to tend to residents with suspected Covid without suitable PPE and that they were given just one medical face mask for a whole 12-hour shift.
Whitehills Care Home denied the claims of our whistleblower over cleanliness and staff being given just one face mask for a shift.
A spokesperson added: “We have consistently and robustly followed the available guidance to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our residents and staff, including implementing contingency plans.
“Our infection control procedures have since been fully reviewed and endorsed by the Care Inspectorate, which has praised our high standards of hygiene.”