Police quiz care home staff over Covid deaths
Care home staff are being left “emotionally distressed” by a police investigation into coronavirus deaths.
It has been revealed that a major police inquiry into care home deaths is underway in Scotland, involving the questioning of staff, with details being collated on everything from PPE supplies to floorplans and staff rotas.
Known as “Operation Koper”, the inquir y is par t of a Crown Office probe into all Covid-19 deaths in residential homes, as well as “presumed” coronavirus deaths, including staff who died after contracting the virus.
A leaked document shows 37 questions are being asked f o r e a c h d e a t h , i n c l u d i n g which government guidance was being followed at the time someone died, what restrictions were in place for visitors and if PPE was routinely stocked.
S c o t t i s h C a r e , t h e b o dy which represents the care h o me s e c to r – whi c h h as backed the investigation but also called for a full public
inquiry – has said the lengthy q u e s t i o n i n g h a d l e f t s t a f f “emotionally distressed” at a time when they are “working hard to protect residents from a second wave” of the virus.
The Crown Office inquir y was announced in May by the Lord Advocate James Wolfe, at the height of the care home crisis, with Police Scotland instructed to question staff, a l t h o u g h b o t h o rg a n i s a - tions said this did not “mean a crime has been committed”.
Once the investigation is complete, the Procurator Fiscal will decide if a death, or deaths, should be the subject of a fatal accident inquiry or prosecution.