Drive the profiteers out of care – public ownership now!

By a care home worker and Unison member

Scotland is emerging from the full restrictions of lockdown into a so-called new normal. In the social care sector we are aware that normal was not enough to prevent the high casualty count experienced in care homes across the country. Any return to that state of affairs will mean that a second wave of coronavirus would have the same atrocious effect as the first.

At the outset of the pandemic there were over 100,000 vacancies in care homes across the UK. The almost complete privatisation of palliative care meant that care homes have had to deliver a dividend – make a profit- for their private owners. The much criticised HC-One handed out over £45m in dividends to its shareholders last year, money that would’ve provided PPE to its homes from the very start of lockdown. 

A piecemeal local approach has brought havoc. Residents and staff have died. Many have been infected and have had to isolate or shield themselves, piling further pressure on the stretched resources of this essential service.

The release of untested patients from the NHS into this vulnerable arena has had a terrible effect. But full to capacity homes represent income for the owners. Some homes said no to new admissions, but they were the exception. 

The dreadful state of the testing regimes meant that untested patients infected staff and residents alike. Pre-existing care packages meant most residents would not be admitted to hospital once infected, an absolute minority of residents once infected have recovered. Many homes have not had infections at all – but they are a minority in Scotland. 

What is clear is that the experience of Covid-19 means we need a new model for social care across the service.

In any reflection of how care homes were able to react to the pandemic, it is clear the chronic shortages of staff, which are often addressed by the use of agency staff, represented the biggest risk to people in our care. 

It is still the case that there is no systematic testing, let alone tracing of care home staff. You only get tested if you have symptoms. I have not been tested to date, despite what government spokespeople are saying about rolling out tests in the care homes. 

Luckily my home has been free of Covid up to the end of phase one. 

Huge sums of public money are spent by the SNP-led Scottish government for private providers of essential services. The question needs to be asked, is it time for the government to take over care homes and ensure an appropriate level of staffing and resources? 

In withholding HC-One’s licence to run the Home Farm care home on Skye, the Care Inspectorate in effect said the company is not fit to run that home. 

The NHS have stepped in and care is improving. The government now faces important questions about what kind of care sector they think will suffice if there is a second wave. There must be urgent plans for a publicly owned national social care service. 

It is essential that the trade unions demand the immediate nationalisation/public ownership of Scotland’s care homes. The removal of the profit motive is a prerequisite to reset the service after the experience of Covid-19.

With so many tragic deaths in our care homes occupancy levels have fallen, meaning income is falling. Some privately funded residents will see fees go up but inevitably there will be a drive on costs – staff wages, PPE, etc. 

The fact this situation is emerging shows that the private model is not fit to meet needs going forward. Scotland needs a publicly owned, democratically run care service which protects residents, has a workforce of better paid, better resourced staff, which can deliver better care.