Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 04 November 2020
The cabinet secretary mentioned the guidance on 26 March. That guidance also stated that individuals who were being discharged from hospital did not routinely need confirmation of a negative Covid-19 test. We cannot pick selectively from the guidance, despite its terms.
Yesterday, I participated in a virtual meeting with Scottish Conservative Party leader Douglas Ross and relatives of care home residents from across Scotland. Some of their stories were heartbreaking. It is clear that the inability of families to see their loved ones for months on end has taken its toll. One participant talked about a father in a care home who has not been told that his wife has died. Every member in the chamber will have experience of constituents who have come to them with those stories, which are a stark reminder of the human cost of the virus and the dilemma that we face in keeping care home residents safe, but also trying hard to maintain their quality of life.
That underpins why an inquiry is necessary now. The quicker we can learn lessons, the better. That will allow us to understand what happened and to move on to a better, safer and more humane system. It is just as much about the future as it is about the past.
There have been significant failings that have probably led to deaths in our care homes. Every death is a death too many. The affected families deserve answers. They have waited too long. Now is not the time for delay; now is the time to take meaningful action. The only way that that can be fulfilled is through an urgent, judge-led public inquiry. It is a simple request.
I call on the Scottish Government to support the motion in my name.
I move,
That the Parliament notes the publication of Public Health Scotland report, Discharges from NHSScotland Hospitals to Care Homes between 1 March and 31 May 2020; further notes with serious concern the report’s analysis of the transfer of COVID-19 positive patients from hospital to care homes during this time; recognises the risk that this might have posed for vulnerable and older care home residents, and calls on the Scottish Government to hold an immediate public inquiry to find out what happened in Scotland’s care homes during the course of the pandemic, which resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 residents.
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