Covid-19: Care workers deserve better than this

Public ownership of the care sector essential

By a Scottish care home nurse

The grim reality of how Covid-19 is killing thousands of vulnerable, elderly people in care homes all over the world has been recognised by the WHO since the pandemic began.

At last the UK government have decided to add the fatalities in care homes to the official figures for all deaths from the virus here in the UK. This has meant a significant spike in Covid-related fatalities and is a stark warning for what lies ahead.

Here in Scotland, the pandemic in care homes surpassed hospital fatalities for the first time last week. More people are now dying in homes than in hospitals. There have been around 1,000 such deaths in care homes with the virus confirmed in 384 care settings. These figures will increase again this week.

I work in a home that, as yet, has had no confirmed cases of coronavirus among residents or staff. We have been lucky, very lucky. Homes not far from us have had fatalities. Residents and care staff are not immune to the virus. The sense of anxiety within the work is a pressing reality.

Lack of sufficient PPE is an ongoing issue. We had a non-Covid death at our home recently and it was striking how much more robust PPE the funeral directors had who came to collect the body than our staff are able to access.

There is a feeling that things will never be what they once were. The management of safety procedures and good practice to keep the infection at bay will be common for all in care until a vaccine is found.

Some care home workers have gone into isolation with their residents to prevent and limit the spread of infection. Some extraordinary self-sacrificing work is being done by care staff on less an hour than the living wage.

There’s been a huge and also overdue recognition of what people who care are asked to do on a day and daily basis in the NHS. As coronavirus has moved into the nursing homes, with equal if not more devastating effects, focus on this sector of care has been sharpened.

So long an after thought, now we are on the frontline of the biggest threat to health for over a century. The resources and capability of the sector is being tested as never before. The emphasis now being shown must lead to a radical revision of how elderly care is provided.

End privatisation

The privatisation pandemic that has lifted elderly care from being a direct responsibility of the public sector means that for profit services are expected at this time of crisis to deliver the kind of comprehensive response to an emergency they are ill prepared to meet.

While staff are at pains to try their very best, there’s not enough of us to meet the crushing demands of Covid-19. Enormous questions need to be addressed as this emergency unfolds.

There must be serious consideration about the future of elderly care, with nationalisation of the nursing home sector at the centre of plans after the crisis. For too long care has been given to some very vulnerable people on the cheap. Nursing home companies have profited from the privatisation of services and the deregulation of the labour market means some staff are so poorly paid they need working family tax credits to get by.

The Scottish government have called nursing homes to account over their reaction to coronavirus. Health Protection Scotland are instituting guidelines that need to be worked too, but this concern seems to be placing a further weight on a burdened, underfunded service.

What is needed now is more staff to work in the homes themselves, especially as an outbreak could decimate staffing levels. The government should be instituting plans to help the homes through this emergency with necessary resources which at this stage is more people to do the work.

But it seems they are content to leave private providers to meet the demands of a public health catastrophe.

We need:

Public ownership of the care sector under local authority control. Social care must be fully funded. Reverse all cuts to public services.

Full and sufficient PPE and testing for all care staff. Trade union supervision and control over workplace safety

Trade union rights for workers, including full wages if off sick. No to care on the cheap

An immediate £12 an hour minimum wage for care workers as a step to £15 an hour

Nationalise the pharmaceutical companies under democratic worker’s control