Inside Justice

Covid inquiry must not be a witch hunt but look at wider issues, writes Tom Wood

It now seems all but certain that we will have an inquiry into our care system. Given the appalling death toll in our care homes during the present coronavirus pandemic, it could hardly be otherwise.

There is even talk of Police Scotland’s involve - ment. And, if there was criminal negligence in the transferring of Covid-positive patients to care homes full of vulnerable people, then so be it.

But there are wider issues which we know need to be addressed and the inquiry must avoid a Covid witch hunt and instead take this opportunity to have a cool, considered and long overdue look at a knotty problem.

So let’s pray the inquiry is given a broad remit and a truly independent chair. This is a complex problem – and there cannot be short cuts.

For the truth is that social care, in all its facets, has been the poor relation for years, hollowed out by the insidious salami slicing of local authority budgets and low prioritisation within many of these limited pots.

But where to start? Well, any inquiry should include home care as well as residential services, and look at children’s services as well.

We haven’t heard much about them lately, but their services are equally in need of attention. Social care is a layered cake, you must cut through to the base to see the whole.

Only a thorough examination of the way we organise, prioritise and fund our care services will suffice.

Like all complex problems, fixes will be neither cheap nor easy.

For a start, our elderly care is a hotchpotch of service models.

In the residential sector, private homes that can charge up to £2,000 per week cater for the luxury end of the market, while the charitable and council sector look after the rest.

But paying a fortune does not always buy you a better standard of care.

All sectors are staffed by the same hardworking – and low-paid – carers who have been so terribly exposed during the present coronavirus outbreak.

The home care sector is similarly stretched, with some areas unable to recruit sufficient staff. Given the pitiful wages and the pressure of work, it’s hardly surprising.

It’s also true to say that some council areas are far better than others.

It’s all about priorities, some small councils work miracles to provide quality care while other larger councils get lost in hubris and vanity projects.

Some of the richest parts of our land deliver the poorest quality of service to their elderly. There seems to be two clear options.

One is creating a National Care Service to mirror the National Health Service, which would be hugely expensive, of course, and also another blow to local service provision.

But it’s either that or the second option of giving increased funds to councils and ringfencing them to make sure our money goes to the right places.

There may be other options but, whatever course we take, the first step is to prioritise our care for our vulnerable, whether they be adults or children.

As a society, we should be deeply ashamed of the Covid catastrophe in our care homes.

We should channel that shame to build a care system we can be proud of.

Tom Wood is a writer, a former deputy chief constable and a former independent chairman of Adult and Child Protection Committees.