Police hand file to Crown Office over ‘criminal neglect’ claim at Skye care home
PROSECUTORS have been handed a police file on a care home where ten residents died from Covid, amid a probe into ‘criminal neglect’ claims.
Police Scotland said information on the Home Farm facility in Portree, Skye, had been passed to the Crown Office for its ‘consideration’.
A police investigation began earlier this year after residents died from Covid at the home, described as a ‘risk to life and limb’ in an official inspection report.
In May, police confirmed they had launched an investigation into the deaths of three women, aged 84, 86 and 88, at Home Farm.
The move could lead to criminal prosecutions for the first time in relation to the hundreds of Covid-19 deaths in Scotland’s care homes.
The submission of the report comes after ministers pledged a full public inquiry into Covid deaths in care homes – and as case numbers in the care sector begin to rise again.
Last night, Scottish Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron: ‘What has happened in our care homes across Scotland during Covid-19 has been absolutely tragic.
‘Full investigations must be carried out at once and should be started up as a matter of urgency. With cases appearing to be increasing in some care homes, we cannot put residents at risk again, given that so many families have already lost loved ones in care homes during this pandemic.’
A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘We will continue to assess information provided to us through that process and to investigate any possible criminal neglect.’
A Crown Office spokesman said: ‘The investigation is ongoing.’
Home Farm was run by HC-One, the biggest care home operator in the UK, which is facing potential legal action from families of residents who died with coronavirus.
Law firm Leigh Day has said it is investigating action regarding HCOne over allegations of ‘systemic failings’ at its homes which led to avoidable Covid deaths.
Richard Meeran, a partner at Leigh Days, has said it has questions over the true scale of virus deaths in care homes in England and Scotland.
One of the families involved is that of Colin Harris, 66, one of the ten residents who died in the outbreak at Home Farm in May.
Mr Harris’s widow Mandie, 47, has claimed family members had found the father of two wet, causing sores on his thighs, but despite complaining it was more than a week before any action was taken.
Mrs Harris alleged that there were often only two members of staff on overnight to care for upwards of 16 residents, putting them under huge pressure.
She said: ‘I honestly feel that both residents and staff have been let down by HC-One.
‘We firmly believe it was down to HC-One’s poor management choices that the virus ended up in the home by them moving staff around untested and bringing residents in and not knowing their virus status.’
HC-One, which has more than 300 care homes across the UK, including 55 in Scotland, operated the home at the time. During the outbreak there, 30 residents and 29 staff tested positive for the virus.
From November, the care home will come under NHS Highland after the Scottish Government stepped in to provide the funds.
The Care Inspectorate took court action earlier this year to improve standards, with NHS Highland stepping in after ‘significant levels of support’ were provided.
Earlier this month, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman announced that Home Farm had been bought for £900,000. She said the wellbeing of residents had now been ‘secured by NHS Highland’. Miss Freeman said: ‘We’re talking about an island
‘We fully support the review’
population who do not want their loved ones cared for off-island.’
A spokesman for HC-One said: ‘We fully support the review of every Covid-19 linked death in a Scottish care home.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Ministers have confirmed there will be a public inquiry into all aspects of Covid-19, including care homes’.