Care home operators have asked for the army and family doctors to be called in to help tackle a surge of coronavirus-related deaths after several premises in Scotland reported significant outbreaks.

Dozens of elderly people, many with significant underlying health problems, are thought to have died over the last 10 days in Scottish care homes from Covid-19 infections, or to have become infected.

Large clusters have emerged at two residential homes, including 12 fatalities at one in Cranhill, Glasgow, and eight at another care home in Dumbarton, with smaller clusters of fatalities at others around Scotland.

Residential homes 'desperate' for PPE, as two care workers die Read more

Age Scotland, the charity for older people, claimed in some cases local GPs were refusing to attend these care homes, even though residents had restricted mobility and were in poor health, and none of the residents were being tested for the virus.

Scottish Care, the sector’s umbrella body, said GPs should be required to visit care homes or take residents to hospital when necessary – a call echoed by Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, on Tuesday, and Prof Fiona McQueen, Scotland’s chief nursing officer.

Unions representing home care workers said many of their members were being denied personal protective equipment (PPE) or unable to get it when needed. Care workers are not being tested, even with outbreaks in their workplaces, or in some cases denied tests by NHS boards.

Gary Smith, regional organiser for GMB Scotland, said some care workers were going into work ill because they could not afford to be off work on statutory sick pay. Because people who die or fall ill with Covid-19 outside hospitals are not routinely tested for the virus, it has proven hard to verify exact numbers of cases.

“It’s an utter shambles,” he said. “We need a programme of testing. These people need to be properly valued by the government and others; caring is built on insecure and low paid workers.”

Scottish Care, the sector’s umbrella body, said the problem was exacerbated by very inconsistent supplies of PPE around the country and said it was essential that testing for care workers was rapidly increased.

Donald Macaskill, its chief executive, said the army could be drafted in to provide logistical support and deliver supplies to ensure they were available around the clock.

The government had ordered 70 hubs to be set up around Scotland to distribute PPE but 20 of them were not yet operating; in four areas they closed at the weekend, he said. “If you don’t use the military’s skills in a battle for life and death, then I don’t know when you would use them,” he said.

Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, said the Care Inspectorate, the statutory body which regulates the sector, was in close contact with care homes. It had checked Castleview care home in Dumbarton, where eight people died from the virus, and was satisfied its infection control procedures were correct.

The government and the inspectorate were studying the sector to see if the support and policies were adequate, and the government had invested significant sums in securing and distributing PPE.

Sturgeon confirmed that care staff, and if necessary their family members, should be treated by the NHS as key workers and prioritised for virus testing. Jeane Freeman, the health secretary, would issue a reminder to health boards that care workers were a priority for testing.

“Care workers are doing a remarkable job in the most difficult of circumstances,” she said at her daily coronavirus briefing. “Testing capacity is increasing with literally every day that passes.”

She said the army was already helping solve logistical challenges from St Andrew’s House, the Scottish government’s headquarters in Edinburgh, but did not directly answer a question from the BBC about whether the military should be used to deliver PPE supplies.