Three days after TuSC exposed the inspection report, BBC Scotland’s John Beattie has been interrogating the owners of the Skye care home where three are now dead and everyone is infected. The story has even made the BBC news website.

Of course, Reporting Scotland didn’t touch it. I thought Lisa Summers liked a bit of controversy. Remember when she unilaterally, all by herself, declared NHS Tayside’s oncology services ‘dysfunctional?’ Of course you can’t catch breast cancer like you might catch coronavirus if you were brave enough to visit that care home in Portree.

BBC Humberside seems less familiar with inspection reports and is not reporting on the 60 deaths in the area’s care homes. The Hull Daily Mail has reported the deaths but has also failed to look at inspections.

They should, though they’ll need to steel themselves for it.

From the 30th January report on Holyrood House in Hull:

At the last inspection, we found governance and monitoring systems had failed to identify areas of concern. This meant systems had failed to ensure risks to people were mitigated. At this inspection, there had been a significant deterioration in the quality of care provided to people. Serious concerns were found which had not been identified by the provider’s quality assurance system. Management and staff had not effectively recognised and managed risks and incidents, therefore, people were placed at risk of harm.

Infection control risks were not identified and managed. Areas of the home, furniture and equipment had not been properly maintained or kept clean. This put people at risk of harm.

In the sluice room, there were dirty commode pans, both staircase carpets were dirty and covered in debris. In addition, we saw carpets in some people’s rooms were worn and dirty. Wheelchairs were covered in debris and stained, a shower room contained a dirty shower chair and commode, which had rusty wheels, and two people’s bedrooms had unpleasant odours.

Staff did not always follow best practice for the prevention and control of infections. A staff member wore a pair of plastic gloves during medicine administration. They handled boxes, keys and documentation throughout without changing gloves. We saw a dirty teaspoon hanging from a light pull cord in the medicine room. Staff told us this method of light pull cord had been in place for nearly a year.

https://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/INS2-6368125051.pdf