FRESH FEARS OVER CARE HOME THREAT
Warning over lack of adequate testing Staff could pass virus to vulnerable residents
CORONAVIRUS testing must be extended to all care home workers ‘urgently’ amid fears that Scotland has acted ‘too late’ for the elderly.
New guidance claims that testing care home staff and residents where there is no outbreak is not a priority.
But care home bosses say testing is ‘especially’ vital for those homes where Covid-19 has not yet been found.
It comes after the Scottish Daily Mail revealed that care home workers had tested positive for the virus despite displaying no symptoms.
This has led to fears that staff could be bringing coronavirus into care homes and passing it on to elderly residents.
Care home deaths linked to Covid-19 accounted for 57 per cent of the overall toll last week.
This was the third week in a row they had accounted for a higher proportion of deaths than hospitals.
Both the UK Government and Welsh Government have announced that all care home residents will be tested as a matter of routine.
But the SNP Government has yet to announce similar measures in Scotland. Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said the move was still under consideration.
New guidelines published over the weekend state that testing for coronavirus is not a priority in homes where there has not been a Covid-19 outbreak, or those not linked to other facilities.
But Donald Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care, which represents the independent care sector, said testing all care home workers and residents must be a top priority.
Mr Macaskill said: ‘We’ve got to plan the testing carefully, we’ve got to make sure that we have resilience plans and [make sure] that’s what is happening.
‘We need to urgently move to a situation where all residents and staff are tested. Where staff are testing frequently, on a regular basis.
‘Especially in homes that don’t have the virus, it is more important we test them than the general public.’
The Scottish Government has come under heavy criticism for its handling of the pandemic in care homes.
Yesterday, Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw MSP said Nicola Sturgeon had been ‘too late’ in acting to safeguard the elderly and vulnerable.
He has called for mass testing in residential facilities, warning that ministers have been ‘slow’ and must act quickly.
Mr Carlaw said: ‘We need to ensure that all staff and residents receive regular tests. It’s now increasingly obvious that care homes are the front line of this crisis, and that the SNP have been slow to respond. We’re acting too late, with care homes only able to receive tests when they’ve got a confirmed case of the virus.
‘And as we move towards the test, trace, isolate phase of our response to Covid-19, testing needs to become more routine.’
He added: ‘That’s why it’s time to hugely extend testing in Scotland to every care home and every care worker. Care homes elsewhere in the UK are receiving 100 per cent testing. Anything short of that in Scotland would be unacceptable.’
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said ‘decisive action’ must be taken to protect the staff and residents who are still at risk.
Robert Kilgour, who owns Renaissance Care, has 15 care homes across Scotland. Yesterday he revealed that 32 of his residents have died in eight homes, with 47 people recovering.
But 92 of his 1,100 staff have tested positive for the virus, 11 with no symptoms.
Of residents, 126 of 700 have tested positive – 26 without displaying symptoms.
Asked at the Scottish Government daily briefing whether she would commit to 100 per cent testing in all Scottish care homes, Miss Freeman said: The current position is that all residents and staff in care homes with an active case are being tested, and part of the enhanced measures I set out earlier is to ensure that clinical and professional oversight is given to all of that work.
‘In terms of care homes that do not have an active case, then at the moment the position is sample testing, but what I can say is that we are actively looking at whether or not the clinical advice we receive supports increasing that to testing all residents in all care homes and all staff in all care homes.’
Last week it was revealed care home staff could be asked to remain working alongside elderly and vulnerable people even if they test positive for Covid-19.
‘The SNP have been slow to respond’