Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 19 May 2020
19 May 2020 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Care Homes
The announcement of regular testing for care home staff is very welcome, albeit that it should be happening on a much greater scale. I have continually requested an emergency protocol for care homes. I lodged a written question on 4 April and I subsequently wrote to the cabinet secretary hoping for a faster response, but all that I have received is an acknowledgement and a holding response.
The lack of a clear single protocol has been disastrous. When testing eventually took place at Home Farm care home in Skye, it showed that there had been an overwhelming level of infection. Since the very beginning of the crisis, Scottish Labour has repeatedly highlighted the need for testing in care homes, on the advice of experts in Scotland, the World Health Organization and other international agencies.
Will the cabinet secretary outline exactly what scientific advice has changed? Will the Government now accept the need for regular testing of staff in care homes? The roll-out will start next week, but when does she expect that level of testing to be available in every one of Scotland’s care homes?
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh)
NPA
The next item of business is a statement by Jeane Freeman on supporting care homes during Covid-19. The cabinet secretary will take questions after her state...
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport (Jeane Freeman)
SNP
Today I want to set out the steps that we have taken, including the additional action that we set out at the weekend and yesterday, to support residents and ...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
The cabinet secretary will now take questions on her statement.
Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Con)
Con
From the outset of the outbreak, ministers were pressing health boards to discharge vulnerable patients into care homes. Will the cabinet secretary say how m...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
As of last week, the percentage of delayed discharge patients going to care homes was 38 per cent, so 62 per cent of people who were discharged from hospital...
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Lab
The announcement of regular testing for care home staff is very welcome, albeit that it should be happening on a much greater scale. I have continually reque...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I am grateful to Ms Grant for her question, and I start with an apology for the delay in responding to her. In advance of her receiving a proper response, I ...
Alison Johnstone (Lothian) (Green)
Green
I welcome the introduction of regular testing in care homes, for which the Greens have long been calling, but it must be expanded to include national health ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Both areas that the member asks about are important. On the situation in hospitals, our chief nursing officer is, with her clinical colleagues, working throu...
Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD)
LD
New residents from the community could still be admitted into care homes without first getting the results of a negative test. Can the cabinet secretary fix ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I apologise to Mr Rennie; I think that I am about to miss the first question that he asked. I will start with the last question. It is not for me to cancel ...
George Adam (Paisley) (SNP)
SNP
I ask the cabinet secretary to expand on what she said earlier. Do the NHS and local authorities have staff available to support care homes that have insuffi...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
George Adam will recall that we made a call to NHS and social care staff who had recently left the profession to volunteer to return. If they are deployed ba...
Brian Whittle (South Scotland) (Con)
Con
The Care Inspectorate instigated an unannounced inspection of Home Farm care home on Skye, which, as the cabinet secretary said, resulted in the Care Inspect...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
The Care Inspectorate is independent, and it is largely responsible for determining which care homes it wishes to inspect, either announced or—this is import...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
I welcome the cabinet secretary’s announcement on testing, but it is months late. We have witnessed a lack of testing for staff—there was really nothing in p...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Part of the difficulty—I mentioned this early in my statement—is that the care home sector is primarily delivered by private business. Some 70-odd per cent o...
Sandra White (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP)
SNP
Yesterday, HC-One care homes reported 1,002 suspected cases and 207 Covid-19 deaths in its care homes. Considering the number of homes and beds that HC-One h...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
The Covid-19 advisory group to the chief medical officer and, obviously, to the Government, which is led by Professor Andrew Morris, is focusing on that area...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I encourage members to keep their questions brief and ministers to keep their answers concise. There are still a dozen members to go.
Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con)
Con
I will be very brief. I want the cabinet secretary to clear something up. Have people been moved from hospitals into care homes without knowing whether they ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I cannot give the member a definitive answer to that question. I can give an answer with respect to the date from which we required the two negative tests be...
Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
Why does the cabinet secretary applaud care home workers on Thursday evenings, only to instruct MSPs on the COVID-19 Committee today to vote against amendmen...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I disagree with those amendments and do not believe that that is what they would do. There are other approaches. I will not get into a debate about that emer...
Maureen Watt (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP)
SNP
I, too, welcome the changes to the testing criteria in care homes. How will that work in practice? Will test kits be sent out to care homes, particularly tho...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
That is an important point. Much of our country is remote and rural and requires travel over considerable distances in order to reach places. Depending on wh...
Jamie Halcro Johnston (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
It has taken nearly three weeks from when a resident of the Glenisla care home in Moray was confirmed as a Covid-19 case for full testing of residents and st...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
If the member cares to give me the details of that particular instance, I will investigate it directly this afternoon and tomorrow and get back to him. It is...
Ruth Maguire (Cunninghame South) (SNP)
SNP
Residents and families must be assured that they will receive the highest quality of care and that robust action will be taken when that does not happen. How...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I will focus on one of the amendments that we have lodged, as a way of—I hope—explaining why we believe that the powers are necessary. I preface my comments...