A charity has called for recognition of people who organise their own care and support, warning they have been left “exposed and vulnerable” during the coronavirus crisis.

More than 2,000 Scots employ their own personal assistants (PAs) to meet their needs, including through self-directed support payments.

However the Scottish Personal Assistant Employers Network (SPAEN), says the experience of employers and their carers during the pandemic has been “harrowing and deeply concerning”.

While the Scottish Government issued an email address and phone number for reporting of issues accessing PPE, SPAEN says its members are advising their calls are not being taken as they are not Care Inspectorate registered and emails go unanswered.

And some employers of personal assistants are being told by their local authority that they will need to source their own PPE.

Colin Millar, chief executive of SPAEN, has written an open letter to Health Secretary Jeane Freeman highlighting a lack of access to personal protective equipment (PPE) for the carers they are employing.

In the letter he says: “They continue to report that they have little or no access to PPE and they are getting no information or updates on when or how this will be resolved.

“They continue to be fearful for themselves, their families and loved ones and their employees, their employees’ families and loved ones, all of whom risk their own health and welfare on a daily basis to provide key social care services to people in their own homes and who are placed at unnecessary risk of transmission of this virus due to a lack of PPE.

“Direct Payment employers want to follow, fully, the Scottish Government’s published guidelines on the use of PPE but they cannot do so without being given access to the vital equipment they need.”

Mr Millar says although they do not represent unpaid carers, there has also been a “huge increase” in contact from people in this group concerned they are unable to access support or PPE.

Earlier this month Freeman pledged that people who care for loved ones with serious health conditions would be given PPE by the Scottish Government.

Mr Millar says the “cracks in Scotland’s social care system” had been exposed by the covid-19 crisis.

He is calling for a “fundamental review into how Direct Payment recipients in Scotland are represented and supported at national and regional level at the earliest opportunity.”

Last month SPAEN highlighted concerns over local authority care arrangements being cancelled and support withdrawn at short notice as a result of coronavirus pressures.

Mr Millar said: “We’ve already had to write to the Cabinet Secretary requesting that Personal Assistants be explicitly included in the list of “social care key workers” as initial guidance omitted this, preventing many PA’s from accessing essential childcare or being questioned whether their journey to work was “essential.  

“It seems as though PA employers in particular are being forgotten at each and every turn.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government recognises the important role of everyone providing social care support, and the need to do this safely.

“We are working with NHS National Services for Scotland to deliver PPE to all social care providers, and are working out how we can extend this service to the wider unregulated social care sector - including personal assistants and unpaid carers.”

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