At the Global Care Family Gathering in 2018, Nicola Sturgeon proudly proclaimed she was Scotland’s ‘Chief Mammy’, a statement that was met with cheers and laughs from the audience to which she was presenting. Two years on, the deadly COVID-19 virus has swept the nation, mercilessly wiping out over 2,500 people. While the United Kingdom was affected catastrophically by the virus, Scotland’s response appeared to gain significant praise from other nations for being transparent, fluid, and effective in reducing the prevalence of the virus. Compared to the Westminster response, the response from Edinburgh and Sturgeon’s SNP government meant everyone knew what was happening. Or did we?
We knew about the situations relating to education, shopping, public transport, NHS appointments, social distancing, face coverings and when to self-isolate. But what about another key pillar of our society: our elderly living in care homes? There is an over 1000-strong network of public and private-owned care homes in Scotland, caring for the most clinically and mentally vulnerable in our society. Did anyone get the last memo detailing what to do in relation to care homes? Nope. While ‘Chief Mammy’ Sturgeon did a reasonable job looking after the kids and fit and healthy parents, what about the grandparents?
Perhaps the biggest failure of the Scottish Government during the pandemic has been its lack of response when it came to care homes. On the 11th March, the care homes union gave advice to stop in-person visits to break potential chains of transmission. This was 2 days before Sturgeon and her government stepped in with official guidance. At this point, people were beginning to die within the UK and Scotland - and with no advice issued by Sturgeon until now - advice came far too late for far too many. And when Sturgeon did put regulations in place, they were not overseen by anyone as most care home inspectors were at home self-isolating.
At least now care home providers can stop the virus from reaching their residents, right? No. Care home residents who were in busy, un-socially distanced hospitals, teeming with the coronavirus were returned to their far more sanitary, safe care homes. Well, they were safe and sanitary until poor Ethel, an elderly resident that made the news, got forced back into the home despite her positive Coronavirus test result. This was not Ethel’s fault either. A total of 37 care home residents who tested positive for the virus whilst in hospital were forced to return to their care homes in a bid to free up NHS beds and make the service look as if it was coping. This practice was particularly prevalent in Ayrshire & Arran, where 17 care home residents were discharged from hospitals to care homes despite having a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
Chief Mammy was not doing a great job protecting all who she needed to protect. The elderly population are vulnerable to catching, and dying from, this devastating virus. But while Sturgeon’s scandalous plan to free up beds was imploding, there was a more pressing issue which affected more than just care homes. With Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) manufacturers focusing much more on English and Welsh care homes, Scottish care homes were pushed to the wayside. But even then, there was very little urgency shown by Sturgeon and her government when it became apparent PPE supplies were running low. It was mentioned in her briefings when a journalist brought it up, but that summed up the PPE conversation. This would not just affect care homes however; hospitals and other areas where contact was likely began feeling the effects of PPE shortages. Even when PPE arrived, the supply chain was complex and meant that carers, doctors, nurses, medical staff, cleaners and support workers were not getting the protection they need to protect both themselves and the people they work with. PPE should have been directly made available for care homes by the Scottish Government.
With PPE running home and the care home’s defenses against COVID-19 crumbling, it only become a matter of time before fingers were pointed. Case in point? Home Farm Care Home in Portree. An outbreak occurred here, which resulted in a total of 59 people testing positive for the virus, 30 of whom were residents. Of the 30 that tested positive, 10 later died. It soon became apparent, however, that the care home was plagued with major problems stemming from before the pandemic. From a lack of staff to care and support that ‘was not always adequate’, it was no surprise that the virus took hold here. But why wasn’t the care home given extra support and funding? Why did the Scottish Government allow HC-One – the owner of Home Farm care home – to continue struggling with inadequate care services and not support them to help them improve? And this is not an isolated incident either. Care homes in Scotland have been unable to provide adequate care for an amalgam of reasons including underfunding, lack of staff and poor government support and policy.
Yet Sturgeon’s SNP government have been letting chronic underfunding of care homes happen for years, sitting on the issue as if it was a bomb. It was only a matter of time before it went off and went off it did. They have been working on an adequate funding model – for eight years. Have the care home providers ever been consulted on funding? No they have not. How does it take eight years to work out how to correctly fund care homes? Furthermore, the supply chain from PPE manufacturer to care home should have been optimised to allow the equipment into care homes as fast as possible. Similar situation with testing, the ideal plan would have been to have all care home staff and residents regularly tested throughout the pandemic. Weekly testing eventually did become a requirement – but several weeks after the Home Farm outbreak and many deaths.
And why did all these issues take place? Needless politicking. Managing a critical threat for a future political referendum. Far too much focus was put on the NHS, which already had unlimited funding by the UK government. And instead, the Scottish Government pushed vulnerable, already struggling care homes to one side. Care homes – regardless of private or public ownership - should have been up there on the national agenda along with the NHS.
Nicola Sturgeon and her government wanted to look like they were the bee’s knees during this pandemic, keeping deaths low and having a good testing regime for many reasons; to help the First Minister look superior to Westminster, to give an excuse for IndyRef 2 among other reasons. And for your average Scottish person, yes, she and her government appeared the best of the bunch. But what about if you worked in a care home, or lived in one? Looks like the Chief Mammy wasn’t looking after all her weans!