SNP DEFECTOR FROM LABOUR REFUSES TO CRITICISE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE ON COVID

The Scottish Government’s Health Secretary during the Covid pandemic absolved herself and then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon over the hundreds of fatalities in care homes including Crosslet in West Dunbartonshire …

By Bill Heaney

The SNP Scottish Government Heath Secretary during the Covid pandemic has been blasted for suggesting it was care homes that were at fault for hundreds of deaths due to the virus pandemic.

The pathetic “it wisnae us” from Jeane Freeman, pictured right, attempted to absolve the SNP of any blame for the spate of fatalities in care homes, including Crosslet Care Home in Dumbarton.

Freeman, who was prevously a special adviser to Labour peer Lord [Jack] McConnell. has previously been accused of “corporate homicide” alongside Nicola Sturgeon for allowing patients to be sent from hospitals into care facilities without being tested for the deadly disease. It occurred for a number of weeks after lockdown in March 2020.

It led to care homes being ravaged by the virus, with staff also not being provided enough or proper PPE to prevent this spread. The Crown Office is still inquiring into hundreds of these deaths to see whether there was any crime committed or if anyone was culpable.

Up to the end of March 2021, there were 3,774 reports of deaths in care homes, with these investigated by prosecutors, with this still ongoing now, although on a smaller scale.

Ms Freeman, who quit Holyrood in 2021, was giving evidence at the UK Covid Inquiry where she was asked about her previous comments about mistakes being made in moving older people from hospitals into care homes.

She said: “It was a mistake in the presumption that all our care homes understood infection prevention and control and were practising it.”

She was given the chance to clarify if she was referring to other things the Scottish Government could have done in relation to issues such as PPE provision.

But she refused to criticise the SNP administration: “At that stage, no. We very quickly did introduce PPE provision, but at that early stage we were not aware that there was a consistent problem across the sector on securing adequate PPE.”

She went on to admit that she had if she had not presumed that all care homes understood infection control there could have been earlier support from public health officials and health boards.

The first rule of politics and indeed journalism is that one should never presume anything.

Nicola Sturgeon and Jeane Freeman led the Scottish Government's response to Covid, including the disastrous policy of discharging untested patients to care homes — **Nicola Sturgeon and Jeane Freeman led the Scottish Government’s response to Covid, including the disastrous policy of discharging patients from hospital into care homes.**

Ms Freeman presided over the NHS and social care sector during the Covid pandemic alongside Ms Sturgeon. Their decisions have been scrutinised by inquiries, with the former First Minister accused of taking decisions just to be different from the UK Government.

Some of the worst mortality rates in Scotland were seen within care homes as the virus spread among vulnerable residents, with guidance about testing before hospital discharge did not change until 22 April.

Questioned about this by the BBC in March, she denied that this looked like a “crazy” decision in hindsight.

She said: “If I could have tested every single resident going into a care home, I would have tested them – but we did not have the capacity to run those tests and process them.

She claimed there were enough alternative measures in place at the time, such as isolation, which should have prevented the transmission of the disease.

Her comments at the inquiry were criticised by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group who told the Daily Mail: “Jeane Freeman blames care homes for thousands of Covid deaths after infected patients were sent in.

“She says care homes didn’t understand infection prevention. The reality: care homes lacked PPE, testing and means to isolate residents properly.”