CARE HOMES TO CHARNEL HOUSES
Grim milestone as death toll of elderly residents surpasses even that of hospitals, piling pressure on Scottish Government
MORE people have now died with Covid-19 in Scotland’s care homes than in hospitals, sparking claims that staff and residents are still being ‘let down’ by ministers.
Coronavirus has been a factor in 1,818 care home deaths, compared with 1,815 in hospitals, the latest National Records of Scotland (NRS) figures show.
Among those who died in hospitals, 154 had been transferred from care homes, taking the total death toll for the sector to 1,972.
It means that nearly one resident in 20 has died since the devastating virus began spreading through care homes.
Nicola Sturgeon yesterday faced heavy criticism for failing to deliver on a high-profile pledge to ensure that all care workers are routinely screened for coronavirus.
According to the NRS figures, published yesterday, Scotland’s Covid-19 death toll has rocketed to 3,911, although there were some optimistic signs as the weekly number of deaths fell for the fifth time in a row.
Adam Stachura, head of policy at the charity Age Scotland, said: ‘The number of deaths in care homes makes clear that this infection has not gone away and continues to have a devastating impact on the lives of older people.
‘In the past week more than half of Covid-related deaths in Scotland involved care home residents and for the first time since the start of the pandemic, the total number of deaths in care homes overtook deaths in hospitals.
‘These figures highlight that care homes remain on the front ine of the fight against coronavirus and the safety of vulnerable residents and staff must be the priority.’
The figures indicate there were 131 deaths north of the Border last week where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate – 99 lower than the previous week. In the week to the end of Sunday, 52 per cent of deaths were in care homes and 42 per cent in hospitals. The rest died at home or other non-institutional settings.
Since the first deaths were recorded in March, 46.5 per cent have been in care homes and 46.4 per cent in hospitals.
The Scottish Government has been criticised for failing to test all care home staff, and for only introducing mandatory testing of hospital patients transferred to care homes on April 21.
Its figures show 921 patients were discharged from hospitals into care homes in March, followed by 510 in April.
On May 18, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman told MSPs all staff in residential facilities would be routinely screened for the virus, whether or not they had symptoms. However, it has been revealed that this has still not happened.
Robert Kilgour, owner of Renaissance Care, said just over half of his 1,150 staff had been tested so far – with 7 per cent diagnosed with coronavirus after previously showing no symptoms.
At First Minister’s Questions
Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw said 7,000 tests would have to be carried out every day if care home staff are to be tested regularly – yet there were fewer than 5,000 on Wednesday and less than 3,000 on Tuesday.
He said: ‘Lessons about coronavirus testing in care homes should have been learned weeks ago. But instead, the SNP is failing care homes, their staff and their residents all over again.
‘It has now been a fortnight since the SNP Government said all staff would be routinely tested.
‘However, it’s clear from testing figures that this drive has fallen woefully short. The World Health Organisation urged governments across the world to “test, test, test”. The SNP’s approach has been dither, delay and distract.’
Mr Carlaw called failures on testing a ‘tragedy’ and said care home workers and residents who have endured the ‘horror’ of the crisis ‘are being let down all over again’.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard raised the case of a care home worker in South Lanarkshire who, he said, had been trying for three weeks to get a test.
He said the woman was told by
Failure after failure, how scandal grew
WAS GP VISITS BAN A DEADLY MISTAKE? Yesterday’s Daily Mail
CARE HOME POLICY MAY HAVE COST LIVES, STURGEON ADMITS Daily Mail, May 26
SNP ‘COVER-UP’ ON CARE HOMES Daily Mail, May 25
her manager she ‘could only have a test if she had symptoms’ – and an online portal for booking tests said the same’.
Miss Sturgeon insisted that the ‘regular and routine testing of care home staff is under way’, but she could not provide ‘robust and reliable’ figures. She said: ‘It is important to note the testing of care home staff requires to be done, not on a one-off basis, but on a regular basis.
‘We do now see care home deaths, while still too high, declining quite rapidly, and we also see from the peak to the middle part of May that care home deaths have been declining slightly faster than deaths in hospitals. That suggests that the package of measures we are taking in care homes and to protect care home residents is having an effect.’
A spokesman for the First Minister was unable to say if routine testing of care home staff was fully operational in any health board area. He said: ‘The policy is clear and it is for health boards to ensure they are following that policy.
‘The policy has been outlined by the Government and it has to do all of this activity in cooperation with health boards and other partners.’
Pete Whitehouse, of NRS, said the number of Covid-19-related deaths registered in the week to May 31 was ‘the lowest weekly total since late March’.
Comment – Page 18