‘The home’s owners HC-ONE had acknowledged staff shortages at the home during the pandemic and said they had been forced to bring in additional workers from as far afield as the South of England.’ I don’t have the owners’ exact words but that’s from the BBC so we can surely trust it’s accurate. Only two days ago they were trying to blame the locals. The infection rate in Highland region is 1 per 1000 but probably most cases would be in the only city, Inverness. We can only speculate on the level on the island but the notion that it … Continue reading Did infection-ravaged Skye care home test the workers brought in from ‘South of England?’

Headlined instead: A third of Covid-19 intensive care patients do not recover, study shows and shared [bottom left] with BBC UK: Is a third of ICU patients not recovering, high or low? Is it success or failure? It’s headlined by BBC Scotland and shared across BBC UK to suggest a scandal. What do we need? Context! There’s none. Here’s some: According to GlobalData Epidemiologist Bahram Hassanpourfard, the global recovery rate is 32%. Hassanpourfard drew attention to the ‘UK’ rate of only 0.46% but I suspect that is based on inadequate data coming from the ONS. As far as I can … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s glass is one-third empty to conceal NHS Scotland’s Covid-19 success

In the Herald today: NO new patients with Covid-19 have been admitted to intensive care in Scotland for at least 10 days, as the death toll from the virus fell for a second week in a row. With fewer than 500 critically ill coronavirus patients requiring ICU treatment so far, admissions appear to have stalled. The Scottish Government had set a target of quadrupling Scotland’s intensive care capacity to 700 beds amid fears that the NHS would be overwhelmed. But it comes as new statistics reveal that people living in the poorest areas of Scotland are more than twice as likely to die from … Continue reading ICU cases fall to zero and Herald writer thinks they’ve just ‘stalled’

From indyref2soon: Latest weekly Covid-19 deaths in care homes:- ONS (England & Wales) down 13% to 2423 (41/million)NRS (Scotland) down 24% to 238 (44/million). So England & Wales has 10.2 times as many as Scotland, and the deaths in Scotland are reducing nearly twice as fast currently. The ratio of populations is about 10.9 for comparison, but care home populations would be more relevant. I can’t find care home populations, or number of care homes, but there is data for how many Nursing Homes (care home with nursing) there are in each country. There are about 510 in Scotland and … Continue reading Contrary to Carlaw claims care home deaths in Scotland falling faster to level below that in England and Wales

From stewartb: 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 … Continue reading Under-reporting of English care home deaths may not be so ‘slight’

There’s one thing missing, as always fro BBC Scotland, the evidence. Unlike most court cases, any investigation into what might be responsible for the death of staff or residents in care homes should benefit from the Care Inspectorate inspection reports, often completed only months before the deaths. These are objective, criterion-referenced, assessments by experienced practitioners which can shed light on events in a way that prosecutors in most cases can only dream of. Look at this example: People experiencing care should have confidence in the organisation and infection control policies and procedures are adhered to ensuring people are not at … Continue reading M’lud I draw your attention to Exhibit A – the inspection report

The above graph from NHS Scotland shows a steep rise in the number of cases requiring intensive care, over the space of only two weeks, followed by a short plateau of less than one week, followed by a precipitous fall to single figures and then a gradual fall over three weeks toward zero. There have been none for ten days now. The overall population being admitted to hospital is falling too but much less steeply, so why are the graph shapes so different? It takes a big man to admit he’s dumb and I’m getting bigger everyday on lock-down so … Continue reading Why have more serious cases of covid-19 fallen so quickly?

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 … Continue reading Why it suited Jackie Baillie for BBC Scotland to ignore report of locked-away PPE in Scottish care home

By stewartb HC-One has now published data on Covid-19 cases and related deaths in its care homes. These numbers are cumulative since the start of the UK COVID-19 outbreak. As of 12th May 2020: 4,747 suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 to date in HC-One homes 856 deaths with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 to date (By my calculation: 18.0% of cases resulting in death.) Candidly, its not absolutely clear from the company’s text whether the above figures are for its homes across the whole UK or just the rUK excluding Scotland. In the same information release, it provides this separately … Continue reading Shocking 1 in 5 covid-19 cases die in HC-One’s Scottish care homes

A Covid-19 home test cost around £195: https://www.better2know.co.uk/shop/products/home-testing-kits/covid-19-test Private care homes for the elderly in the UK typically charge more than £800 per person per week: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/paying-for-a-care-home/ Most UK care home staff are paid only the minimum wage or in some cases even less: https://www.homecare.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1605174/Most-home-care-workers-are-paid-less-than-minimum-wage The owners of private care homes in the UK, such as HC-One are often based in the USA or in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, pay no UK taxes and yet can pay investors, dividends of around £45 million per year: https://www.wikipolitiks.org/wiki/HC-One_Ltd HC-One, the owner of Home Farm in Skye and Highgate in … Continue reading Jackson Carlaw DOES NOT attack super-rich Tory-donor care home owners who have failed to pay for their own staff to be tested