Care home residents furious after being injected with saltwater instead of Covid vaccine in jab blunder

CARE home residents are furious after they were injected with saltwater instead of a Covid vaccine.

The health board has apologised for the "vaccination errors" in a terrific blunder at Millbrae Care Home, Lanarkshire.

Eleven elderly residents at the care home, specialising in dementia care, were injected with saline solution.

Scottish Labour's health spokeswoman, Jackie Baillie said the alarming incident raises serious questions about the management of the vaccine programme.

She added: "The complacency is jaw-dropping."

The documents seen by the Sunday Mail also allege other failings.

Millbrae operator, Thistle Healthcare, confirmed it was aware of the incident.

A spokesperson said: "This is the first time this matter has been brought to our attention and we do not recognise the events as described in this document."

Opposition politicians and unions believe the Millbrae mistake is symptomatic of wider failings.

And unions claim the blunder alludes to a care industry in crisis.

GMB general secretary, Gary Smith said the incident was "shameful".

Scottish Lib Dem leader and health spokesperson, Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "I cannot imagine the stress and disappointment that people may have felt.

"Mistakes like these cannot be allowed to happen, especially during a pandemic with more dangerous variants now at large."

Trudi Marshal, Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire nurse director, confirmed the vaccine blunder.

She said: "None of the residents who received the vaccine diluent came to any harm and they were re-vaccinated on the same day."

Scottish Conservative shadow social care minister, Craig Hoy, called for the SNP Government to be upfront wherever possible about the number of patients affected by the error.

The Scottish Government confirmed it was aware of the incident, which was not made public.

But said it did not hold accurate nation-wide information on similar incidents.

Staff at Millbrae have launched a collective grievance case detailing other alleged failings at the home.

It includes workers having had to buy food for residents from a local garage because the kitchen had closed.

And that they were forced to cut up tights to make pants for holding incontinence pads in place.

Employees also raised concerns over pay and staffing conditions and had no confidence in management, who have failed to provide adequate training.

One source said: "The work is relentless because there aren't enough staff and so you don't get the time to properly care for residents.

"The NHS staff dealing with the vaccines were clearly frazzled. And that's when hard-working people make mistakes."

An official inspection report carried out in July by Scottish watchdog the Care Commission rated Millbrae's performance as "weak".

The report said staff seemed in a hurry and did not have adequate time to spend with residents.

The Crown Office is investigating the deaths of 12 former residents at Millbrae as part of a wider investigation into more than 3,000 deaths linked to Covid in care homes across the country.