Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 04 November 2020
Care homes have been at the centre of the Covid-19 crisis and, unfortunately, the crisis is far from over. Today, it was confirmed that, sadly, six of my constituents from Caledonian Court care home in Falkirk have died in the past few days following an outbreak. On behalf of Scottish Labour, I send my sympathies to their loved ones and to everyone who has lost someone special to them during this awful pandemic. I also pay tribute to healthcare workers who have lost their lives, those who have become ill in the line of duty, and all the workforce for their on-going efforts.
It is vital that Parliament pays proper attention to the impact of the pandemic response on care home residents and the workforce, so I am grateful to Donald Cameron for lodging the motion and for the opportunity to give these vital matters our attention. We will support the motion, because we believe strongly that getting a public inquiry under way is in the public interest. My amendment calls on the Government to commence cross-party talks on the inquiry’s remit, and I think that the cabinet secretary has made fair points about the four-nations context. We need to have a discussion about that.
My amendment also calls for a human-rights-based approach to such an inquiry. The Scottish Human Rights Commission recommends that, and I am pleased that ministers have already made a commitment to that approach. However, we are not minded to support the Government’s amendment today, because it does not commit to getting the preliminary work under way, which risks an inquiry being kicked down the road, possibly until after the election. We recognise that Scottish Care and others would prefer the work to begin later, but many others have added to the compelling case for action beginning now, including Age Scotland, GMB Scotland and other unions, and Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK.
Cross-party work should be being done now, so that we can agree the terms of reference, identify where there are gaps in the data and research, and fill those gaps quickly.
Donald Cameron touched on this point. The voices of families are really important, but so, too, are the voices and experiences of people who live in care homes. We are not hearing enough about them and they do not have time, so we have to capture their views. We need to discuss who will lead the inquiry and so on, but we can agree those things.
What has happened in our care homes this year has been a national scandal. I thank Neil Findlay for bringing a debate on the Amnesty International report “As If Expendable” to the chamber last night. That report contains findings and lessons that are applicable to the whole of the UK, including Scotland, and Amnesty International recommends a full independent public inquiry without further delay.
We should never again find ourselves in a situation in which older people are discriminated against on the basis of their age. The Amnesty International report concludes that we have had policies during this pandemic that have threatened older people’s right to life, their right to health and their right to non-discrimination. Never again can we have a situation in which people who test positive for Covid-19 are discharged into care homes and an environment with other vulnerable people.
My amendment also says that an inquiry should consider the role of Scottish Government guidance in relation to Covid-19 outbreaks in our care homes. I am afraid that, last week, the Scottish Government sounded very defensive when questioned about the Public Health Scotland report that is referred to in the motion.
No one is looking for a blame game to happen here, but we need transparency and openness. I urge that we work together to agree the terms of the public inquiry and show collective willingness to act swiftly in the interests of public safety.
I move amendment S5M-23226.1, to insert at end:
“; believes that such an inquiry should take a human rights approach and consider the role of Scottish Government guidance in relation to COVID-19 outbreaks in care homes, and calls on the Scottish Government to commence cross-party talks on the inquiry remit, in the interests of transparency and public safety.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.
- S5M-23226.1 Care Homes Motion