Covid inquiry: Skye care home inspection was blocked

Public health officials blocked a safety watchdog from inspecting a care home in Scotland which was badly hit during the pandemic, the UK Covid inquiry has heard.

Kevin Mitchell of the Care Inspectorate told the inquiry he wanted to visit the home where a number of residents had died in April 2020 but he was prevented from doing so for another month.

The BBC understands Mr Mitchell was referring to Home Farm in Portree on the Isle of Skye where 12 residents died.

An inspection of that home was carried out on 4 May 2020 and found serious concerns about the safety of residents.

Thousands of deaths that took place in Scotland's care homes, including Home Farm, are being investigated by a special Crown Office unit, set up in 2020.

It is the largest investigation of deaths in Scottish history, with many complex cases.

By May 2020, 30 of Home Farm's 34 residents had tested positive for Covid-19, as well as 29 staff.

Later that year the privately-run home was taken over by NHS Highland.

The UK Covid inquiry heard that the Care Inspectorate stopped onsite inspections of care homes between 13 March and 4 May 2020.

Mr Mitchell, who is the inspectorate's executive director of scrutiny and assurance, said after the pandemic began he was required to get agreement from directors of public health before going onsite.

He said he had tried to do that for a particular home in the west of Scotland which was in a "critical position" but the director of public health blocked an onsite visit and said the "inspection was not necessary".

Mr Mitchell said he thought public health directors were "very nervous" about the Care Inspectorate going into care homes and spreading the virus and preferred clinicians having conversations with care homes instead.

The Care Inspectorate has powers to enter care homes with or without prior notice.

However, Mr Mitchell told the inquiry that - following a meeting chaired by then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon - "it was very clear to us that we were not allowed to act unilaterally".

He said it would have been a very difficult decision to go against strong advice from Public Health Scotland and directors of public health to not go into care homes.

Mr Mitchell said the closest he got to going against that advice was for the inspection at the start of May, but inspectors were given the official go-ahead.

PPE and Covid tests were prioritised for frontline health workers with very little supplies allocated to inspectors.

Mr Mitchell said he believed the "root cause" of not being able to inspect safely was because of the lack of preparation for a pandemic by not manufacturing PPE or having a test and trace system that could have been scaled up.

Video calls were used to help inspect during the pandemic.

Mr Mitchell said people would need directed to show inspectors everything, but video calls worked well to talk to relatives who could not be there.

The number of care home inspections dropped substantially during the first year of the pandemic from 603, compared to 1,129 the year before.

There were particular issues with "limited resources", according to Mr Mitchell, which meant they had to prioritise care homes to inspect.

In May 2020, he said there were only 17 inspectors available. In 2025, there were 117 inspectors.

The number of inspections returned to pre-pandemic levels in the past couple of years.