General Discussion
But is it not true that goverment only supply the money the NHS have there own procurement process and 82% of nursing homes are private with paying clients i dont see BUPA screaming for PPE. Now dont take me wrong we are in unprecedented times and Nursing Homes the NHS should have all the PPE they require but is it this goverments fault or NHS managers who are buying from the Far East to save money. Then you could say it's goverments fault for not funding the NHS properly and forcing them to buy cheaper in China, India etc i think its far more complicated than we imagine and lets be honest every health service in the world is desperate for PPE and there is only so much to go round.
Ah yes, and that would be from the right wing, uber Conservative Party supporting, Guido Fawkes website, would it not?
Interesting read here about Care Homes https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-care-homes-deaths-matt-hancock-boris-johnson-a9489786.html
...but admitted (finally!) by the left wing, uber Labour Party supporting, BBC, was it not?
Thought we were talking about PPE?
Why the sudden switch to Care Homes?
Because PPE (or the lack of it) is an issue in care homes.
When the Labour Party was in power (as well as even more recently) the BBC was oft times accused of being right wing and Conservative supporting.
Web results
Goverment dont run care homes most are privatley run so do the owners of these establishments not have a duty of care towards there staff should they not have seen this coming and made preperations.
Good point. As you say many care homes now are privately run, profit making exercises. How many hundreds of pounds do they charge each week for each resident? How much do they pay their care workers?
From what I can gather the government (the taxpayer) is now supplying, or saying it is supplying, PPE to all care homes (ie both council and privately run). If the priority at the moment is to get the PPE out to where it is needed then I agree with that. Of course I do. But that raises questions like:
1. Why is the taxpayer having to bail out private enterprise? As you say, surely the privately run establishments should have made their own preparations in anticipation of the pandemic.
2. Will the taxpayer get the money back from these private establishments when this crisis is over?
3. Is enough PPE and the right amount of PPE getting out to all care homes?
There are probably many other questions that could be asked. The above are along the lines of questions I have seen raised in the MSM.
I failed to say first and foremost do the owners of these Nursing Homes not have a duty of care to there residents to keep them safe and out of harms way.
Care Homes and Social Care Companies are not being 'given' PPE.
All the Government are doing is sourcing it for them - the companies still have to pay for it.
There is something called the National Disruption Centre which distributes the kit but if a business falls outside of that help then they must source PPE from whereever they can and at whatever cost.
e.g. Mediworld in London are charging £106.50 for a £12.50 box of masks!
Thank you for that clarification.
The word profiteering comes to mind. Is the government doing anything about that? Or are they taking a "laissez faire/let the market decide/demand is outstripping supply therefore prices will rise" approach?
Do all care/nursing homes now come under the NDC? Or are there exceptions?
My error - I was using the expression 'care home' sloppily such that I was using it in a generic sense to cover not only care and nursing homes but also sheltered, supported living, and retirement homes and such like.
As far as I'm aware, within the 'accommodation' sector, ONLY care homes, nursing homes and social care (care in your own home) companies come under the NDC umbrella.
