Immediate inquiry into care home deaths demanded MSPs

MSPs have demanded that the Scottish Government holds a public inquiry into Covid deaths in care homes.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has repeatedly said such cases will be included when an inquiry into the Scottish Government’s handling of the pandemic takes place.

A Conservative motion rejecting this approach – arguing instead there should be 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 2000 residents” – was passed by 64 votes to one, with 57 abstentions.

An amendment from health secretary Jeane Freeman saying a coronavirus public inquiry should be held “as quickly as is practicable, once the country is through the immediacy of dealing with the pandemic” was narrowly rejected, with MSPs voting by 60 votes to 62 against this.

The Scottish Government defeat comes the week after figures from Public Health Scotland showed 113 patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 were transferred from hospitals to care homes.

A further 3061 people were discharged from hospitals and into homes without being tested at all.

Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron told MSPs that since the start of the pandemic there have been 2048 deaths in care homes in Scotland.

He said: “This Government’s failure to protect Scotland’s most vulnerable people is a scandal and I do not shirk from describing it in that way.

“It is clear to us and others in this chamber that only an immediate public inquiry will hold minsters to account and give grieving families the answers they deserve.”

Freeman said the Scottish Government “wants and will welcome a public inquiry”, telling MSPs it could be “critical” in helping learn lessons from Covid-19.

But with the virus still surging across the globe, the health secretary said the focus must be on tackling the pandemic.

Freeman said: “A public inquiry is undoubtedly important, no disagreement on that.

“But right now, in the middle of the pandemic, with all the resources in care homes and the NHS stretched severely, this is not the time to divert any resource to setting up an immediate public inquiry.”

Cameron responded: “While we wait, the families of those who died in our care homes will get no answers and no closure.

“Now is not the time for delay, now is the time to take meaningful action, and the only way that can be fulfilled is for an urgent, judge led public inquiry.”

Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon backed him, arguing an immediate inquiry is in the public interest.

She said: “What has happened in our care homes this year has been a national scandal.

“Never again can we have a situation where people who are positive with Covid-19 are being discharged into care homes, into an environment with other vulnerable people.

“No one is looking for a blame game to happen here but we need transparency, we need openness.”

Green MSP Alison Johnstone said the scale of deaths in care homes means the case for a separate public inquiry is “clear”.

Including care home deaths in a more general inquiry into the handling of Covid-19 will only lead to delay, she added.

Johnstone said: “Elderly spouses, partners and families of those who have lost their lives might not be able to wait, nor should they be asked to.”

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said what happened in care homes was a “tragedy”, adding the Scottish Government failed “some of our most vulnerable” citizens.

Transferring hospital patients who had tested positive for coronavirus into homes “put a time bomb into the heart of some of the most vulnerable homes in our country”, he said, branding it “unforgivable”.