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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Monica Lennon

Scots care homes becoming 'crisis within a crisis', warns Labour health chief

For the third week in a row on Thursday the country will stop to applaud those on the frontline of the war against Covid-19.

This newly-forged community tradition has provided a touching display of unity and support in the most testing of times - with a special focus on NHS staff.

It's vital, though, that thousands more in our care sector don't become forgotten as they risk their lives to protect our society's most vulnerable.

I am talking about the low-paid frontline workers, looking after our loved ones in care residences or carrying out visits to older people and the sick in their own homes.

And that doesn't just mean applauding them - it means protecting them.

Monica Lennon is demanding better protection for staff and residents in care homes (Daily Record)

All carers must have personal protective equipment (PPE) to give critical cover against Covid-19.

Chillingly, there is a groundswell of evidence that this is not happening, despite Scottish Government assurances.

Unions, council chiefs and the care sector have all warned that the supply and distribution of PPE is shambolic.

Scottish Government and Health Protection Scotland guidance does not command the confidence of carers who fear that masks are being rationed.

I hear horror stories from care staff on an almost daily basis.

Workers in South Lanarkshire who say they are victims of advice to use PPE "sparingly".

A GMB Scotland survey of members in the social care sector has led the union to fear carers are being treated like lambs to the slaughter.

Whistleblowers have revealed PPE locked away in cupboards while elsewhere the shelves are bare.

The death last week of Dumbarton care worker Catherine Sweeney in the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley has saddened the nation.

Carers have always been unsung heroes; their work under-valued and under-appreciated for too long. Often on insecure contracts, 80 per cent of the workforce are women who juggle family life with a passion for helping others.

What does it say about our public institutions if we don't protect them?

The multiple virus-related deaths in Scottish care homes is a sharp reminder of the dangers they face.

Supplying carers with masks, gloves and essential PPE should be an absolute given.

Instead, a failure to heed their concerns is threatening a developing crisis within a crisis.

Absence levels are soaring across the care sector.

The Health Secretary pledged to monitor individual cases of PPE shortages by email, however, there is an urgent need for a co-ordinated national effort to ensure that no care worker is left exposed.

Heads of state across the world have compared the current crisis to a war.

What country would give a ticker tape farewell to its army then ask them to fight without any weapons?

It's heartening that NHS and social care staff will go to their difficult and dangerous jobs on Friday with Thursday's applause still ringing in their ears.

We must, however, insist that they're armed with the equipment needed to protect themselves, their families and the people they care for 24 hours a day.

We must stop the spread - starting today.

 
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