Care home OAPs STILL vulnerable to a second wave
Public health expert blasts lockdown failings
CARE homes are unprepared for a second wave of coronavirus as ministers have failed to learn lessons of the first lockdown, a public health expert has warned.
Allyson Pollock, Professor of Public Health at the University of Newcastle, said poor staffing levels meant many homes were still vulnerable to Covid-19.
She said it was important to shield residents but keeping out visitors and confining elderly people to their rooms would store up health problems. Professor Pollock, who also warned against a return to full lockdown, criticised the Scottish Government over its testing policy.
Scottish Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron said: ‘As we see tighter restrictions brought in again, it’s hugely concerning to hear warnings like this being made. Our care homes bore the brunt of the pandemic in the spring so there must now be urgent action taken to protect residents and staff.’
Professor Pollock, founder of the Centre for International Public Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘Much more needs to be done in terms of getting the staffing levels right in care homes... especially those in domiciliary care, who are having to go in and out of lots of homes.
‘We’ve had seven months to get it right – this isn’t rocket science. All governments could have been doing a lot more.
‘Scotland is using UK-funded commercial testing facilities – it could have asked for that money to be used to rebuild the public capacity in NHS labs.’
Professor Pollock’s comments come as figures show Covid-19 cases are beginning to increase again in the care sector.
She said ‘we have to take special steps to take care of older people because of the mortality risks’. But she added: ‘Some of the excess deaths in older people we’ve seen are very likely to be due to the fact that they didn’t receive the care they needed when they needed it during the initial lockdown, because of Scotland’s very low hospitalisation rates.
‘And we still don’t know whether care homes have fixed the staffing levels. A University College of London study a few weeks ago said staffing was really important in terms of quality of care and outcome – ie having enough staff and enough of the right staff.
‘So, if Scotland is serious, it should really be doubling its staffing numbers and it’s not just in care homes – it’s domiciliary care as well.’
Professor Pollock condemned the UK Government’s proposed £100billion ‘Moonshot’ programme of mass testing as ‘staggering’, adding: ‘We need to get back to basics.
‘That includes looking at what affects quality of care, good infection control, adequate staffing levels and smaller numbers, so that staff are nursing much smaller numbers of residents.
‘I think the important thing for older people is shielding, getting staffing right, making sure they get the appropriate care if they fall ill – and making sure that relatives and visitors who visit regularly are not excluded.’
Professor Pollock also questioned the ‘rule of six’ calling it ‘incomprehensible’.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘From the outset of the pandemic, the Scottish Government has acted quickly and decisively in ensuring support for the adult social care sector.
‘This includes expanding and strengthening PPE supplies, developing a rapid testing programme, ensuring local oversight arrangements to support care homes and equipping the Care Inspectorate to carry out an enhanced assurance role.’
‘This isn’t rocket science’