Private care home needed public bailout
A care provider which faces having one of its homes shut by watchdogs has needed authorities to step in to help run another of its units.
NHS and council workers were drafted in to privately owned Kinnaird Manor care home, run by scandalhit HC-One, after Covid-19 infected two-thirds of its residents and staff.
It is feared up to 22 of its estimated 60 elderly residents have died from coronavirus since last month.
HC-One also owns Home Farm in Skye, which has seen 10 pensioners in its care die from the illness.
The Portree home could face closure after the Care Inspectorate submitted an application to remove its registration.
Officials identified “serious and significant concerns” during a check.
Now, Labour councillor Dennis Goldie, who sits on Falkirk Council, plans to lodge a complaint with police over concerns about Kinnaird Manor.
He claimed a whistleblower told of a high number of resident deaths linked to coronavirus.
It comes days after Lord Advocate James Wolffe said prosecutors will now be able to probe Covid-19 deaths of key workers and care home residents.
Goldie said: “I understand the death toll could be as many as 22. I’ll be contacting police about this outbreak. It’s almost a mirror image of what has happened in Skye and raises questions about what has been going on at this home.”
Kinnaird Manor – in Camelon, Falkirk – was one of the first homes in Scotland to test staff and residents for coronavirus. It is a move now be replicated nationally by the Scottish Government
HC-One said the unit, which employs about 40 carers, has been free of Covid-19 since the end of April.
However, it confirmed two-thirds of tests it carried out returned positive.
The testing resulted in a high number of staff being ordered to self-isolate, leaving those still at work struggling to provide care.
Management were forced to use health workers from NHS Forth Valley and
Falkirk Council to fill the void.
Patricia Cassidy, chief officer of Falkirk Health and Social
Care Partnership, said: “In order to help the care home maintain adequate staffing levels, the health board and the council arranged for a number of experienced NHS and social care staff to provide support to the home for a few days until alternative staffing arrangements could be put in place.”
An HC-One spokesman refused to confirm how many Kinnaird Manor residents had died.
The Care Inspectorate said: “We are aware of the tragic deaths of residents at this care home as a result of suspected cases of Covid-19.”