Scottish COVID-19 inquiry Impact hearing | Health and social care|26 March 2024 (morning session)
Today's session features some truly shocking testimony from Independent Care Homes Scotland and Central Scotland care homes.
The first four witnesses from Independent Care Homes Scotland are Mary Rodgers (manager, Blenham house nursing home Edinburgh), Carol Anne Currie (principal carer, Randolph Hill, Dunblane), Madeana Laing (care home manager and registered nurse at Beech Manor care home, Blairgowrie) and Peter McCormick (managing director Randolph Hill nursing homes).
Below is the National Records of Scotland data available for some of these premises which registered deaths ‘involving’ COVID-19 over the first 15 months of the pandemic. Of note is the home that did NOT lockdown earlier suffered fewest deaths.
In the following segment it is astonishing to discover that during lockdown from March 2020 many care home residents were cut off completely from all medical care and 90% in one home were placed on ‘‘just in case’’ end of life medications by a GP without being seen and regardless of illness. Was consent applied ? Unlikely. If not, this should be referred to as euthanasia, which is illegal in all four nations of the UK typically treated as murder.
‘‘Euthanasia has no particular status under the law in the UK, and cases of euthanasia are typically treated as either murder or manslaughter depending on the circumstances. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment.’’
Many residents who died from maltreatment would later (no doubt) go on to be labelled as ‘COVID’ deaths justifying the need for further restrictions on the whole of society and eventually the need for fast tracked experimental mRNA/DNA injections.
It is also stated by managers Blanket DNACPRs were in place in some homes because they ‘‘would not be going to hospital if they became unwell’’. Complete bans on paramedics and ambulances arriving at care homes is also mentioned which was agreed to be without precedent.
‘‘People wanted their care escalted but were told by GPs they couldn’t get it.’’ -Madeana Laing
‘‘Even when residents who maybe didn’t have COVID just became unwell it was very much a cut and dry (decision by NHS?) they were’nt going to hospital when you could clearly see if they went to hospital they had a really good chance of improving, of getting over what was making them unwell in the first place….it was almost like you were playing god..NO you can’t go.’’-Madeana Laing
‘‘In your understanding the lack of ability to access an ambulance, paramedics or hospital was the reason for these DNACPR decisions put in place.’’-Junior counsel to the inquiry. Reply is ‘‘Yes’’
‘‘In one of our homes we received DNACRPs for all of our residents that hadn’t already got one in place.’’ -Peter McCormick
‘‘There was a restriction in terms of access to care for people in care homes a decision that must have been made by the NHS. That was not a discussion held in the full public light’’-Peter McCormick
‘‘Family members became concerned why is my relative not going to hospital?’’-Madeana Laing
Ms Laing goes on to explain it was ‘‘quite a long time’’ before any residents were able to goto hospital, around 9 months. It is further explained this has very likely led to many preventable deaths. How many of these were labelled as COVID ?
'‘Some residents would have got better had they had the opportunity to go to hospital’'-Madeana Laing
‘‘Over a number of people this must have made a difference.’’ (preventable deaths)-Peter McCormick
As if these revelations were not shocking enough it is further described by Ms.Currie the policies put in place at her home meant they had no GP visits at all and…
'‘9 times out of 10 regardless of what the residents symptoms were they were (GP) prescribed ''just in case'' medication'‘ -Carol Anne Currie
‘We really really struggled (to get a GP) it was months and months before we got a GP into our home.’’-Carol Anne Currie
Mr.McCormick explained how ‘‘pressures on the NHS’’ in 2020 as the main reason for ambulances not arriving at care homes. This is not supported by the data. Overall hospital admissions in Scotland fell to their lowest level on record during lockdown. The ambulance service was also most definetely NOT busy. Why were they refusing to at least make an attempt to save lives ?
‘‘At the very beginning when we did have very sick people that did have COVID we were told they couldn’t goto hospital as it would take too long to clean the ambulance…so they wouldn’t be going’’ -Mary Rodgers
Here it is mentioned that during lockdown March-June 2020 there was no testing regime in place. So how were residents being diagnosed with COVID ? Is it not more likely the frail were succumbing to the lack of NHS care and or extreme isolation and would later be added as a ‘presumed or suspected’ COVID-19 related death ?
‘‘On page 8 it is stated it took 3 or 4 months for a testing regime to be put into place.’’
Of note in the witness statement is evidence of harm on staff from regular PCR testing of the nostrils.
‘‘We were testing staff 3 times per week. Some had nosebleeds from the tests.’’ -Page 9 of statement
Further ‘‘huge’’ harms of lockdown isolation are explained to be occuring on residents which directly led to many ‘‘fading away’’.
‘‘Resident's activities and external stimuli were diminished during the pandemic or taken away altogether. This included the loss of the inward support formerly coming from the wider local community such as visits by school children. This, in combination with the visiting restrictions and difficulties narrated above, only served to further shrink and diminish the quality of life enjoyed formerly by residents.’’-Page 12 of statement
‘‘The residents became very disengaged as lockdown and the pandemic went on. The effect of lockdown and the pandemic on the residents was huge, they all felt very isolated and very lonely. After the pandemic,residents were not interested in going out and about. I feel that many residents faded away as the lockdown restrictions took such a huge toll on their mental health.’’ -Page 15 of statement
Further soul destroying lockdown cruelty is noted.
‘‘Staff found birthdays and Christmas particularly hard. It was incredibly upsetting for them enforcing the rules and telling people they couldn't come and see or be with their loved ones. It could be a residents last birthday and their children and grandchildren weren't allowed to bewith them.’’ - Page 24 of statement
Despite these very real, verifed and extreme harms occuring in residents directly from policies. The ‘severity of COVID’ seems tame by comparison as explained by one manager.
‘‘I suffered from covid twice during the pandemic. The first time was absolutely fine, you had to isolate, there was no question of that. The first time I got Covid was roughly 2 and a half years after the pandemic started, maybe Autumn 2022.’’ -Page 26 of statement
Continued….
‘‘Public health did visits, they had to have all of the protective gear on like the people working in the home. They were quite brutal with care homes and picked up on small things like if there was a dirty mark under a chair rather than focus on the bigger issues. I think it was deflating for staff when we got the first report picking up on small issues, as the staff had done well (we hadn't had a Covid case till quite a while into the pandemic - about a year and a half).’’ - Page 30 of statement
To conclude, the managers are clear that the care home sector does not support any investigation into deaths. I would strongly disagree based on their own testimony. This should be a top priority for the police.
‘‘Operation Koper makes some staff feel like suspects in a criminal investigation. This surely cannot have been its intention and, although individual staff are often not placed under caution, they do not understand the distinction and they are not people who are accustomed to providing statements to police officers for onward transmission to Police Scotland.’’
-Also see
for more analysis of this testimony.End
Second testimony.
The second testimony is from Central Scotland care homes Lissa Di Giacomo — Managing Director — Oakminster Healthcare Limited and Scott Finnigan — Group General Manager (Operations & Quality Improvement) —Thistle Healthcare Limited who all but confirm what many people have suspected for some time in that ‘COVID’ deaths are likely a result of other untreated conditions being re-labelled a such. Again, it is repeated the inability for medical care to be provided to residents during lockdown.
‘‘There was some services where all visitations just stopped…the majority of cases it moved to telephone assessment.’’
‘‘Physical assessments being missing had a HUGE impact.’’
The below demonstrates why all ‘COVID’ deaths cannot be taken seriously and should be fully investigated.
'Lots of people who just took unwell were classed as suspected COVID without any test'
'Other health conditions didn't exist during COVID'
'If you took unwell living in a care home you were automatically considered as being COVID positive'
Here ‘massive’ lockdown impacts are explained along with the creation of plastic ‘‘cuddle curtains’’ so loved ones could make contact.
‘‘Not being with family was almost as deterimental as the virus to their wellbeing’'
'‘Residents deteriorated as a result of the restrictions placed upon them.’’
So admitted here by managers (Independent care homes) is that all cause mortality during the pandemic was no greater than prior years which is astonishing given the extreme nature of the lockdown policies which unarguably has resulted in many preventable deaths.
Also admitted is that most residents survived COVID in 2020 with at least 50% asymptomatic, no symptoms whatsoever. One manager never tested ‘positive’ till late 2022 and also had no symptoms. What exactly were people frightened of to justify the inhumane policies and how was COVID-19 ever a legitimate public health emergency in light of such facts ?
History has shown Just following orders is no excuse for enforcing cruelty on frail members of society.
The Lancet Commission on medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust: historical evidence, implications for today, teaching for tomorrow
‘A distinctive and disturbing feature of these atrocities is the important role that health professionals played in formulating, supporting, and implementing inhumane and often genocidal policies.’
End
Links:
Full video-Youtube-Scottish COVID-19 inquiry-Impact hearing | Health and social care | 26 March 2024 (morning session)
Full statement Independent care homes -https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0425-000001.pdf
Full statment Central Scotland care homes- https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0423-000001.pdf
https://www.randolphhill.com/
https://righttolife.org.uk/knowledgebase/assisted-suicide-and-euthanasia
https://www.msn.com/en-in/health/other/nhs-bosses-pressured-care-homes-to-use-dnr-notices-scottish-covid-probe-told/ar-BB1kAAGQ
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13277723/Were-Covid-patients-left-die-against-wishes.html
https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/medicine-and-the-holocaust
Where the care home residents were placed on ‘‘just in case’’ end of life medications was it noted exactly what those medications were and the dosage?