Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 09 March 2022
09 Mar 2022 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Care Home Visiting Rights (Anne’s Law)
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to today’s debate. People who live in care homes and their loved ones are undoubtedly among those who have been hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although action had to be taken to ensure that people in care homes were protected, I completely understand the distress that was caused by people being separated from those folks who are most important to them. I thank care home residents, their loved ones and care home staff for their continuing steadfast commitment during the pandemic to keep themselves and one another safe.
Restricting care home visits early on was one of the hardest decisions that the Government had to take. Throughout the pandemic, we have sought the views and experiences of families with loved ones in care homes in relation to the impact of visiting restrictions. I am very close to the issue, and rightly so. I ensure that I see all correspondence on visiting, and I always respond personally. I have huge empathy with people who have experienced separation and loss. Many of the stories of separation are, to be quite frank, heartbreaking.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur)
LD
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-03492, in the name of Jackie Baillie, on Anne’s law—protecting the right of care home visiting. Any membe...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
Presiding Officer, 24 March will mark two years since Scotland entered its first day of lockdown. Those were some of the hardest days that many of us have ha...
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care (Humza Yousaf)
SNP
I absolutely recognise the disparities between the isolation periods in care homes and those for the general public, but is Jackie Baillie asking us to reduc...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
I will quote the First Minister in a minute, so the cabinet secretary might want to listen. Almost one year on from the Scottish Parliament elections, when ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
We are very tight for time, so members will have to stick to their allotted times. 16:17
The Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care (Kevin Stewart)
SNP
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to today’s debate. People who live in care homes and their loved ones are undoubtedly among those who have been harde...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
The minister has recognised the anxiety and stress felt by families and staff in our care homes, but does he recognise that that despair exists to this day? ...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
I do not quite get Mr Cole-Hamilton’s point—I might have picked it up wrong. Jackie Baillie is right to say that we should be testing, but he is saying that ...
Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Will the minister give way?
Kevin Stewart
SNP
I have a lot to go through. Our named visitor guidance was introduced last year as a first step towards implementing the changes that we all believe are nec...
Monica Lennon
Lab
Will the minister give way?
Kevin Stewart
SNP
I really do not have time—I have a lot to say. Maybe I will give way later. I thank care home staff and health protection teams who have tirelessly worked t...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
You need to conclude now, minister.
Kevin Stewart
SNP
Finally, that also means that the Care Inspectorate, under its existing legal powers, will now have a strengthened role to ensure that the new standards are ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
You do now need to conclude, minister. You are well over time.
Kevin Stewart
SNP
I will say more about primary legislation in summing up, Presiding Officer. I move amendment S6M-03492.2, to leave out from “understands” to end and insert:...
Craig Hoy (South Scotland) (Con)
Con
I thank Jackie Baillie for securing this important debate before Parliament today. It is just over two years since Covid arrived on Scotland’s shores—two ye...
Monica Lennon
Lab
Will the member take an intervention?
Craig Hoy
Con
I will not, I am afraid, because I am short on time. We are sceptical of the SNP’s amendment, which offers yet more dither and delay. Notwithstanding what t...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
Will Mr Hoy give way?
Craig Hoy
Con
I must carry on. Today’s debate is not about the reasons as to why so many died in our care homes—that will be for Lady Poole’s public inquiry to determine—...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
I am grateful to Jackie Baillie for bringing the debate to Parliament. I offer her our unconditional support: we stand full square behind Labour in its quest...
Monica Lennon
Lab
Several times in his speech, the minister talked about “visitors”. He did not talk about family care givers. Alex Cole-Hamilton has recognised the important ...
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
I absolutely agree. To clarify my intervention to the minister, I say that we are shutting such people out of our care homes. The care home manager who got i...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
We move to the open debate. Paul O’Kane joins us remotely. 16:33
Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
The importance of today’s debate cannot be overstated. Our care homes have been at the centre of the pandemic over the past 2 years. Let me put on record my ...
Evelyn Tweed (Stirling) (SNP)
SNP
I thank Jackie Baillie for bringing this important debate to Parliament, and I thank Natasha Hamilton for her petition in honour of her mother, Anne Duke, wh...
Carol Mochan (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
The Covid-19 pandemic has been difficult for everyone. Up and down the country, isolation and loss have been felt by so many. However, as a result of the str...
Sue Webber (Lothian) (Con)
Con
The Scottish Conservatives recognise the impact that Covid restrictions have had on care home residents and their families, and we gladly support the princip...
Gillian Martin (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP)
SNP
I am fully supportive of the principles of Anne’s law, and I was moved by the testimony of Anne’s daughter, Natasha Hamilton, and the many others who could n...