“Regulation of the care home market is very weak, with almost no attention is given to issues like sector consolidation, let alone questions about whether the owner of a care home is prepared to put care before profit.”
Nick Kempe
“The health impacts of Covid-19 shouldn’t just be assessed in terms of those who have died, but also by looking at the lives of those who have survived.”
Nick Kempe: What’s happening with rehabilitation in care homes in Scotland?
“What’s needed now is a critical grilling of the role of the Scottish Government in the care home disaster. Without great public pressure, fed by the voices of those harmed by the crisis, that will be a long time coming.”
Nick Kempe: To understand the care home scandal, the voices of those affected must be heard
“We need to re-enable families to look after older people where they so wish and address the income and housing issues that currently prevent this.”
Nick Kempe: Hostages to Covid –the rights of care home residents and their relatives
“The advantages of one National Care Service aligned with the NHS would be considerable… Instead of providers competing with the NHS for scarce staff, resources could be planned and deployed where most needed.”
Nick Kempe: It’s time for debate on a National Care Service for Scotland
“As the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths thankfully drop, it is more important than ever that pressure is kept on government to account for what has gone wrong and use this to inform a proper plan to protect older and other vulnerable people should Covid-19 return.”
Nick Kempe: There is no sign the Scottish Government has learnt from the care sector’s lack of preparation for a pandemic
“The failure is with our centralised, under-resourced and bureaucratised systems that did not prepare properly for a pandemic and don’t have the flexibility to respond to the Covid-19 crisis as a crisis – a system that keeps the people responsible for regulation distanced from what they are supposed to be regulating.”
Nick Kempe: The care home crisis begs the question – what is the Care Inspectorate for?
“A bottom up review of the care home system would enable the workforce to help re-design a system that depends on them.”
Nick Kempe: The Scottish Government should put older people, their families and care staff at the heart of the care system
“The immediate need is that the Scottish Government learns from mistakes that have probably cost hundreds of lives. This is not an argument that the Scottish Government has done better or worse than other governments, but simply that they need to be open about what has gone wrong, consult and act.”
Nick Kempe: Isolation, human rights and keeping older people safe in care homes
“Accepting Jeanne Freeman at her word, why didn’t she realise what anyone working at the coalface in the sector could have told her – that discharging any infected person from hospital to a care home could have disastrous consequences?”