Covid care home scandal must be a watershed moment for underfunded public services – Ian Murray MP

As ministers try to wash their hands of responsibility for the death toll from coronavirus in care homes, we must now create a National Care Service, says Ian Murray MP

People take part in the weekly applause for the NHS and carers in April (Picture: Habibur Rahman)

Regular readers of this column will be aware of my concerns regarding coronavirus-related care home deaths in Edinburgh and across the country.

Scotland has the highest rate of care home deaths in the United Kingdom, with almost half of all Covid-19 deaths here occurring in care homes.

Many people have long raised concerns about the SNP Health Secretary’s decision at the beginning of the pandemic to discharge more than 1,400 hospital patients without testing into care homes. But much worse than that, we learned over the weekend that at least 37 patients were discharged into care homes despite actually testing positive for Covid-19.

And those figures don’t include our own NHS Lothian, which was one of two health boards which did not respond to requests under freedom of information laws.

The real figure is higher, and we urgently need to know what happened here in Edinburgh. This information cannot be kept secret and I urge both the health board and the Scottish Government to publish the data.

Across Scotland, these decisions cost lives, and turned our care homes into a breeding ground for coronavirus. Yet instead of taking responsibility for the decision, when asked about it in Parliament this week, the SNP Health Secretary said discharging was the decision of clinicians, not her government.

A silver lining?

That is not good enough. The buck stops with politicians, and it stops at the top. Like the Education Secretary last week there is no responsibility taken by those with the responsibility.

The unfortunate reality is that Covid-19 has shone a very bright light on the underfunding and under-appreciation of our care sector.

If there is to be any silver lining from this crisis, it must be that we revamp our care system to work for those it supports and those who work in it.

This evening, Channel 4 will broadcast a film I made, as part of The Political Slot, examining the scale of the care homes failure in Scotland.

In the short film, I talk about Scottish Labour’s plan for a National Care Service.

In making the programme I travelled across Edinburgh, and spoke with a care home worker and trade union representative. Shirley Furie painted a gruesome picture of the difficulty she and her colleagues experienced every day.

‘Fighting an invisible war’

The lockdown wasn’t easy for any of us, but while we were quarantined at home, Shirley and her brave colleagues in Edinburgh and across the country were going onto the front line “fighting an invisible war” and “had been let down by government”.

They were working in care homes that had become rampant with Covid-19, risking their own safety to help protect and support the most vulnerable.

Just as those who need care services deserve a new settlement, so do the key workers who went above and beyond during the pandemic.

Earlier this month and again yesterday, nurses across Scotland, including here in Edinburgh outside the Scottish Parliament, held socially distanced protests over pay.

They were protesting because nurses have been excluded from a Scottish NHS pay rise which will be awarded to some, but not at all NHS workers.

Applause doesn’t pay the bills

In the country’s hour of need, nurses in Scotland’s NHS responded to the call of duty and helped save countless lives. Like workers in care homes, they have swapped their own health and wellbeing to look after others.

It was inspirational to see everyone come out and clap for key workers during the lockdown, but a round of applause doesn’t pay the bills.

It’s time for government to give nurses the pay rise they deserve.

Labour has called on the Scottish Health Secretary to get round the table with trade unions and deliver the pay packet that nurses deserve.

This crisis must be a watershed moment for society.

We can never return to underfunded public services and under-rewarded key workers.

It’s surely time to care about care.

Ian Murray is the Labour MP for Edinburgh South

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