THE BBC reported earlier this week that the elderly in England and Wales are not going to be taken to hospital if they have symptoms of coronavirus in care homes. In areas of England and Wales, “do not resuscitate” notices en masse are being attached to the care plans of the elderly and one manager of one care home interviewed on Newsnight said this was disgusting. In fact the Care Quality Commission has demanded this to stop.
READ MORE: Virus linked to 13 deaths at Burlington Court care home
On Saturday I was shocked to learn that 13 elderly people showing symptoms of coronavirus died at Burlington Court Care Home in Cranhill, Glasgow during the last week without any of these people being tested for Covid-19 as none were taken to hospital, seeming to confirm a policy of the elderly being left in care homes to die.
The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland has to be held to account and questioned on this. If this is unstated policy throughout the UK it has to stop, and the elderly where possible should be given every chance of living by being taken to hospital and put on a ventilator in hospital.
As I write this I am thinking of my 82 year old father and every elderly person. They are human beings with dignity not numbers to be written off.
Sean Clerkin
Campaign Coordinator, Scottish Tenants Organisation
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