10 Jun 2020
The SNP has been told to set itself a deadline to finally get on top of testing all care home staff for coronavirus.
It comes as Nicola Sturgeon admitted barely a fifth of care home staff had been tested – three weeks after her health secretary promised a campaign of routine testing.
At First Minister’s Questions, she said around 11,000 workers had been processed, and denied there were issues with getting testing equipment to certain areas.
But Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw pointed out that in the Borders it was reported fewer than half the kits had arrived, while the local health board said it didn’t have the capacity to get all the tests done.
Care homes remain the place most likely to suffer Covid-19 deaths, figures showed today, and tens of thousands staff across the country are still waiting to be tested.
There are an estimated 50,000 care home workers in Scotland.
Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw said:
“Three weeks have now passed since the SNP said it would routinely test every care home worker.
“But now we learn barely a fifth of these staff members have been tested, meaning tens of thousands are still going into work with vulnerable people with no idea whether or not they’re carrying the disease.
“The fact so few have been tested three weeks after this pledge is pathetic.
“We need to see Nicola Sturgeon set a deadline for when all care staff will be tested in Scotland.
“These dedicated workers need to know the Scottish Government has a grip on this perilous situation.”
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