A resident at a coronavirus-hit care home in Skye has died after testing positive for the virus.
A total of 30 residents at Home Farm in Portree were confirmed on Monday as having contracted Covid-19, including one who later died.
A total of 27 members of staff have also tested positive.
It comes after Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said there is enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect workers and residents at the premises.
A spokeswoman for the home said: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with the family who has lost a loved one from coronavirus and we are doing our utmost to support them during this difficult time.
“We have a comprehensive coronavirus contingency plan in place, which was created by our clinical director and reflects the latest government guidance.
“We are working closely with our local health and care partners, and we have secured the medical equipment, PPE and supplies we need to protect residents and colleagues alike.
“Whilst a number of colleagues are away unwell or self-isolating, we have had the team members required to safely care for all residents with additional support being drawn from our other Scottish homes and the senior regional team.”
A decision has been made to deploy a military mobile testing unit to the island.
Ms Forbes, who is also the MSP for the island, said she had been told there was enough PPE in the home to protect staff and residents.
Since the outset of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, concerns have been raised over the supply of masks, gowns and other protective equipment.
On BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland, Ms Forbes said: “It was one of my first questions and I was informed resolutely that, yes, there was sufficient PPE there.”
Ms Forbes also said contact tracing could be used on the island, due to its rural nature, to track the spread of the virus through residents.
“Skye, as a self-contained island community, shows the advantages of contact tracing and I think that contact tracing is going to be an important part of our capability on Skye in dealing with the outbreak,” she said.
“That will form a vital part of NHS Highland’s response, as you can see from that increased testing capacity and the way that they have already started to make contact, not just with those who have tested, but with their households as well.”
Some members of staff, the Finance Secretary said, will have part-time jobs in the community as well as their work at the care home, making contact tracing an “important” way of containing the virus.
Former Scottish Tory leader Baroness Goldie, speaking on the same programme, said the testing strategy on the island should be designed to “absolutely ensure the safety of residents within the care home and try to ensure that not only are they being kept safe, but the risk of transmission into the home or out is minimised”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel