MSP asks questions about tragic outbreak of Covid-19 at Skye's Home Farm Care Come
5th May 2020
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant has asked the Health Minister Jeane Freeman about the tragic outbreak of Covid-19 at Home Farm Care Home on Skye.
During Topical Questions today she said:"I am deeply distressed for the residents and staff at Home Farm Care Home. A constituent with a relative in the home has told me she was raising concerns with senior management of the company weeks ago about its handling of the pandemic and the lack of PPE for staff. She was also concerned staff were being taken in from other care homes without a period of isolation.
"I have written to the Cabinet Secretary and put down a written question asking on behalf of another constituent for a protocol for Care Homes in this Pandemic and have had no response.
"When will there be a protocol for Care Homes to prevent tragedies such as this one in Skye?"
Jeane Freeman replied: "The guidance to care homes is clear and that guidance is that residents should be looked after in their own rooms, there should be no communal socialising or meal times, that visits should be stopped and there should be no transfer of staff from one care home to another because all of this is about breaking the transmission route. That I think is a protocol of type ..."
She went on: "I would like to point out, however, that many of the issues that members are raising are issues where private care home providers where the majority of the outbreaks are, have not, in some instances, appeared to follow the guidance that we require them to follow and that is why as government we are now taking a more direct intervention route in those cases."
Rhoda raised her question after a relative of a Home Farm Care Home resident contacted her for support saying she had raised concerns weeks ago with HC-One which owns the care home about staff not wearing PPE.
She also claimed that she was aware HC-One was moving its own staff between its care home after the home went into lockdown on March 12 without adhering to seven-day self-isolation rules.
She contacted Rhoda last night saying she was shocked and distressed to see how her relative's health had deteriorated in the last few days since being diagnosed with Covid-19 in the care home.
The woman, who does not want to be named, told Mrs Grant: “The sheer volume of this explosion at Home Farm has knocked everybody for six. Hopefully my husband is going to pull through this. But that doesn't change my stance that somebody is responsible for letting that virus into the home. I am not condemning the care home staff in any way though because I don't believe they are to blame. They have provided wonderful care to my husband over the years."
Speaking afterwards, Rhoda said she would be raising this issue further with the Scottish Government as well as the owner of the care home HC-One, The Care Inspectorate and NHS Highland.
She said: “This is terrible. It's shocking. This woman, who until lockdown was visiting her husband six days a week, has managed to see him yesterday on webcam for the first time in a week and the sight of him lying in bed desperately ill miles away from her is something no-one should ever have to see. We need to find out why the virus has spread so quickly to so many in this care home and why earlier mass testing was not carried out. There are urgent questions that need to be answered."
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Lots of questions remain to be answered but this was Yesterday in West Highland Free Press -
An Isle of Skye care home worker tested positive for coronavirus six weeks ago - but no follow-up tests were carried out on colleagues or residents, it has emerged.
The island is today reeling from news that 54 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed at the Home Farm care home in Portree.
However, a much earlier case of the virus was linked to NHS Highland-run An Acarsaid in Broadford.
Some details of the case were reported by the Free Press in early April, but we can now confirm that the person who tested positive was a worker at the Broadford care home.
The staff member told the Free Press that they had been left under the impression healthcare bosses would not disclose details for “fear of causing a panic”.
Instead, as they lay in their sick bed, it was left to the staff member themselves to inform colleagues and the relatives of care home residents of the positive test.
The case followed an initial hospital admission on the 20th March, and - despite showing atypical early symptoms – the following week tests revealed Covid-19.
The worker said they felt “it wasn't right” that the information should be kept secret, and e-mailed details of the test to those most closely connected to the care home.
In the weeks since, the worker – who is still recovering at home – said some colleagues had shown some mild symptoms of coronavirus and had taken the advised time off to self-isolate.
However, despite referrals to Occupational Health, none of the staff were tested for Covid-19.
The staff member added: “It’s been very frustrating for them. There’s been a lot of anxiety, and a lot of staff time has been lost too.”
The Broadford care home is home to ten residents and has a total of 21 staff.
Last Friday the Scottish Government promised enhanced outbreak investigation measures at all care homes where there are cases of Covid-19 – including making testing available to all care home residents and staff, whether or not they have symptoms.
A mobile testing unit, manned by the army, is due to arrive in Broadford today (Monday 4th May).
A spokesperson for NHS Highland said: “NHS Highland is following national guidance on patient confidentiality and we will not make public where in the Highland any potential Covid-19 cases are.
“We have a process in place whereby we advise precautionary isolation for two weeks for any patient discharged to a care home from a hospital.
“Any staff with suspected symptoms are advised to follow the widely publicised guidance on self-isolation.
“With respect to testing, we would test in accordance with national guidance for the management of suspected respiratory outbreaks in care homes.”
At Home Farm in Portree 28 of the home’s 34 residents and 26 of its 52 staff tested positive, following blanket screening which was carried out last week.
Dr Ken Oates, director of public health at NHS Highland, said: “There is no evidence at this stage that Covid infection has spread further into the community.”
From - https://www.whfp.com/2020/05/04/isle-of-skye-care-home-worker-had-to-make-sickbed-e-mail-to-inform-colleagues-and-relatives-of-positive-covid-19-test/
