THE Health Secretary has announced NHS Highland is buying Home Farm Care Home in Portree from owner HC One.

A complaint made to the Care Inspectorate led to a petition being lodged with the courts for emergency cancellation of the home's registration as a result of a number of patients and staff testing positive for the virus.

Ten residents at Home Farm Care Home died with Covid-19 following an outbreak there.

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Jeane Freeman did not say how much NHS Highland, who stepped in to care for patients after the petition was made, paid for the home, but she added that staff would carry over and become NHS employees.

The Health Secretary said that care standards in the home improved after the health board became involved, with the Care Inspectorate deciding that the terms of the cancellation order no longer applied.

Freeman said: "We have worked closely with NHS Highland and the Care Inspectorate to secure this.

"Significant improvements have been made in the quality of care offered at Home Farm with support from the health board, the Care Inspectorate, the local council and, of course, the staff there."