The Scottish Government is carrying out an evaluation of the Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing Specialised Housing.

The Guidance was issued in January 2020 in response to the Grenfell tragedy and was developed to bring together in one place all fire safety advice and guidelines for existing specialised housing. It covers housing such as sheltered housing, very sheltered housing, extra care, supported housing and small care homes which accommodate a few residents. It doesn’t cover large purpose-built care homes as these are covered by separate legislation.

As the guidance has been available to housing providers, building owners and agents, care providers and personal assistants, for one year now, the Scottish Government is conducting a review.  This review will explore uptake of the guidance and users’ experiences of implementing it.  For example, how useful has it been, if it has not been used, what are the barriers, how it could be improved, further support required, etc.

About Progressive Partnership

As an independent research company, we have been commissioned to undertake the review of the guidance. We work in accordance with G.D.P.R. and the Market Research Society Code of Conduct. Please be assured that your confidentiality and anonymity is respected at all times. All information provided in this study will be aggregated to provide Scottish Government with summary information, and individual respondents will not be identified in any way.

We are initially conducting some interviews with housing and care providers via Zoom. This will be followed in a few weeks’ time with an online survey that will be sent to all housing/care providers, together with umbrella organisations and industry stakeholders across Scotland.

We would really appreciate your interest in this important piece of research, and do hope you will be able to assist. If you could respond to this email, letting us know the name of the person we would best need to speak with, and provide a direct phone number so that we can be in touch and arrange an appointment with our Executive Interviewers.

If you would rather not be contacted, please email Valerie Strachan at [email protected]

If you would like to read Progressive’s privacy policy, please click here.
If you have any questions about the research, please contact Valerie Strachan at Progressive at[email protected]

Scottish Care continues to have major concerns about Operation Koper. We recognise that police officers are undertaking investigations as a result of a direction from the Crown Office acting under the personal instruction of the Lord Advocate.

Frontline staff and managers are spending huge amounts of time providing data and information for these investigations. This would be challenging at the best of times but in the middle of a pandemic and with dozens of care homes fighting active outbreaks this has added to a real sense of exhaustion, dismay and disappointment.

It has been argued that the NHS is treated in the same way when there is an unexplained death and that this is just a new system for the care home sector to deal with. We totally reject that analysis. There is clear unequal treatment of the care home sector in this whole process. We are not aware of NHS staff being interviewed about every Covid death that takes place in a hospital even if patients have caught the virus which killed them when in an NHS setting and for unrelated reasons. We are not aware that there is a demand upon staff to respond to nearly 3 dozen questions, to provide extensive personal records and files for patients, which are taking frontline staff away from their duties of care and support in the middle of a pandemic.

The operation from the Lord Advocate’s instructed Crown Office investigation has both in its timing, extent and unequal treatment of the care home sector caused considerable distress. Whilst it is of course critical and essential that assurance is given to families and the wider community that everything that could be done was done to protect their loved ones, the balance between accountability and intrusive investigation has not, we believe, been one which the Crown Office has achieved. We very much regret the Lord Advocate chose to treat the care home sector with this degree of disproportionate focus which has done little to enhance community assurance or indeed professional confidence.

We believe these investigations are wholly disproportionate and are causing irreparable damage to the professional integrity of nurses and carers who are exhausted beyond measure in fighting the virus.

Scottish Care is hosting an open webinar with Prof Jason Leitch and Dr Syed Ahmed from the Scottish Government. This session will focus on Covid-19 vaccination and will take place on Tuesday 26 January at 3PM.

This webinar session is open to providers and frontline staff. Please share this information with colleagues and staff as it is a great opportunity to ask Prof Leitch or Dr Ahmed any questions or raise any concerns about the vaccine.

If you are interested in attending this webinar, please register by clicking the link below. Once your registration is approved, you will receive an email with Zoom details to join.

Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_b7si6fGEQDS0so8uqcOyEg

As the Covid-19 vaccination webinar is scheduled on the same day as our weekly Covid-19 surgeries, we have decided to bring the surgery forward to Monday 25 January at 2PM. This will be an in-house session with Dr Donald Macaskill and our Workforce Lead, Caroline Deane.

Details to join this session will be available on the Members Area of our website.

Scottish Care is deeply concerned that there appears to be a concerted campaign to convince care home managers and staff not to receive the Covid-19 vaccination.

Over the last two days the majority of care homes in Scotland have received unsolicited mail from a campaign group which variously has denied the validity of the vaccines and indeed the existence and prevalence of Coronavirus itself. In addition, there has clearly been a targeted campaign on social media to create uncertainty and fear amongst social care staff.

As an organisation we will continue to advocate that all residents and frontline nursing and care staff should receive the vaccine. Being vaccinated not only protects the most vulnerable and fellow colleagues but also protects the individual.

CEO, Dr Donald Macaskill said:

 “I am appalled that care home managers and staff are being targeted by anti-vaccination groups. To be at the receiving end of such a coordinated campaign at a time when many homes are struggling with live Covid-19 outbreaks is wholly despicable.

We all want an end to the helplessness we have been feeling in care homes. We all want to see families reconnected with residents. We all want a restoration of normality. Vaccination is the hope which offers us the potential of achieving all this and anything that insidiously tries to spread mis-information and falsehood, to create fear and anxiety prevents us all from the protection we need to provide for our residents and staff.”

The BBC has published a FAQ on the Covid-19 vaccine that may be useful to members and providers, this can be read here.