Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 20 January 2021
With respect to John Mason, I say that it is not Labour members who have been putting older people further down the queue during the pandemic; what has happened to older people is a tragedy. In my view, it is a humanitarian crisis, particularly in relation to what has happened in our care homes, where I believe that older people have been the collateral damage in the pandemic. That is why Labour members have fought for and secured a commitment to a human rights-based public inquiry. We would want that to get under way now, rather than waiting until sometime in the future.
I am reflecting the concerns of front-line workers. Home carers, who are mentioned in our motion too, feel despondent and feel that they have been left behind in the pandemic. They feel that they were last on the list for PPE and last on the list for access to regular testing and they now fear that they will be last on the list when it comes to getting vaccinated. I think that our motion and the debate today can be a signal of intent that home carers, indeed all social care workers, can expect to receive the maximum, not the minimum, level of support from the Government. I understand the logistical challenges. I have discussed them with the cabinet secretary, as have some of my colleagues who are sitting around me. We just need to work harder, because home carers are going into homes where people have Covid, and those carers have a basic mask and are still not getting access to regular testing. They are trying to book vaccines but, when they go online, the vaccine is not there.