In Care Home Professional on 8th April:
Leading care home operator HC-One has expressed its outrage at Scottish Labour Party and GMB Union allegations it had withheld PPE from staff at a home where the deaths of eight people have been linked to the coronavirus. The UK’s largest care home provider accused the organisations of “political point scoring” after GMB regional secretary Gary Smith wrote to Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie alleging that protective masks at Castle View care home (pictured) had been “locked away by management, and staff were told they did not need to use them”. Scotland organiser Kirsty Nimmo said the GMB had seen further information making further “serious claims” of shortages of nursing staff and bullying and harassment of staff at the care home.
https://www.carehomeprofessional.com/hc-one-outraged-at-scottish-labour-and-gmb-union-ppe-claims/
Several Scottish media outlets including the Daily Record and STV have since covered the story but BBC Scotland, alone, have not reported it. This is despite their enthusiasm for the same GMB regional secretary when he was prepared to have a rant against the Scottish Government on testing:
Finally, what has Jackie Baillie done about this? I can find no trace of action by her. I stand ready to be corrected. Like Gary Smith, she is a regular on Reporting Scotland.
I suppose the Castle View story doesn’t fit with her agenda to blame the Scottish Government for everything she can:
In the Dumbarton Democrat on 4th May:
Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond has warned the Scottish Government that lives will continue to be lost in care homes until it delivers “a robust and thorough action plan for fighting Covid-19 in our care homes”. She has raised grave concerns that lives could have been saved, had care home staff been provided with proper PPE, and there had been testing of staff and residents. People have been dying since March.
So Jackie, whose job is it to provide PPE for staff in a private car home – Nicola’s?
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
The standard fare from British Labour and it’s supporters in the trade unions is normally a call for these failing institutions to be brought into public ownership.
Not a peep,wonder why?
Probably doesn’t fit with their attempts to blacken the SG as being responsible for this situation.
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O/T a bit! In a BBC News online article published on 12 May with the ‘Reality Check’ label we learn this:
“From the end of April, the government started including care homes in its daily death statistics, but there could be SLIGHT UNDER-REPORTING in these numbers, as they only include deaths where someone tested positive for coronavirus.” (my emphasis)
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52284281
It had an embedded link from the phrase ‘but there could be SLIGHT under-reporting’ taking the reader to a Public Health England (PHE) report published on 29 April.
Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/882565/Technical_Summary_PHE_Data_Series_COVID-19_Deaths_20200429.pdf
Curious, I visited the linked source – searched for ‘slight’, searched for ‘under-reported’ and variants, and had a quick scan of the text. Candidly, I find it hard to see the justification for the BBC’s use of the term ‘SLIGHT’! However I did find this in the PHE report’s Q&A which hardly backs up the BBC’s contention::
“5. Does this represent everyone in the country who has died from COVID-19?
This dataset includes all deaths in people who had a positive COVID-19 test in Public Health and NHS laboratories in England. Combining deaths from multiple sources reduces the risk of underreporting compared to the current data series.
However, this data series does not include deaths in people who had suspected COVID-19 but were never tested, for example those linked to an outbreak or had COVID-19 symptoms at the time of death. These deaths will be identified over time through ONS death registrations.”
If I had the energy and motivation – BBC ‘fails’ are becoming just so boring – I’d read the document and if appropriate formally complain. But to what purpose? Prior experience tells me not to bother – but don’t let me put others off!!!
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It is what BBC Scotland refuses to report that , so often, is important. Just now, it is reporting that people in deprived areas are twice as likely to die of covid 19 as those who do not live in such areas.
What is never said, and never will be, is that Scotland lacks the powers needed effectively to address the fundamental causes of inequality in Scotland . The BBC is crap.
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I feel Nicola Sturgeon is a one man air force, where are all her wing men diving in there to hammer these stories to death, there are none of them about , why is that , what are they being paid for , they should be on to this kind of stuff as soon as it appears , she has enough to deal with , or are they just not up to it ! .
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Or one woman if you prefer 😄
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Well, it’s obvious. Nicola should have immediately sent in stormtroopers armed with firefighter axes to break down the cupboard doors and ‘liberate’ the PPE.
And Ian “Tory” Murray and Jackie Bailey would have cheered them all the way.
They would have, wouldn’t they…?
…wouldn’t they…?
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Eh , no ! .
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Perhaps a relevant issue but I read somewhere today that the Crown Office is looking at setting up a task force to examine failures at Care Homes during this Pandemic with a view to possible prosecutions. Lets hope so and personally I hope they nail these b*****ds to the cross.
On a related issue noted a dispute from first PM’s QT today that called into question the UK Gov’s initial response to the threat of Care Home infections. The matter was timidly raised at the UK Briefing along with why national ‘death’ comparisons with other Euro countries was suddenly dropped once it became clear the UK was worst. It should be watched if simply to demonstrate how B*ll S**ters can give reams of useless jargon to avoid a direct question. Very entertaining and dismaying at the same time and also how incompetent the English media are in holding the Tories to account.
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Yes , no grilling for that lot the way Nicola Sturgeon gets it day in day out , they fudge past the questions expertly , nobody challenges, it is all accepted , on to next fluff ! .
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PPE and testing in privately owned profit driven care homes should be taken under the jurisdiction of the Scottish Government. Just like wartime. Because it is a war
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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Is A Hard Working Lady
Most Of Those Who Try To Present Her In A Poor Light Are Actually Jealous And Angry That She Is Far More Caring And Efficient Than Any Male Elected Politicians In The UK And Europe
Tory Cattle Find No Dirt On Her And That Gets Right Up Their Unionist Noses
SO They Look Around For Any Titbit They Can Find To Mock Her Efforts
In England Many Voters Are Envying Scotland Right Now Many Hundreds Of Thousands Living With The Lert Cabal Realise That They Are The Front Line For The Tory “Wait And See” Loafers Posing As Politicians Who Put In A Shift Or Ten Jeering The SNP In London
If Anyone Looks Online At The Crowded Tube Or Buses It Is Easy To See It Is Pointless For Tories To Hurry Workers To Work Undoing All The weeks Of Lockdown To Stop The Virus
If The Death Rate Rises England Will Have To Lockdown For A Long Time To “Flatten” The Toll.
I Listen To The Elected By Popular Vote FM
England Ought To Vote Tories Out And Put People Before Capitalist Greed
Agree Or Not
I Am With The FM
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