People across Stirling, Forth Valley and Scotland now deserve answers on the use of care homes during the pandemic says a Tory MSP.
At the High Court in England this week the UK Tory Government was found to have acted unlawfully in discharging people from hospital into care homes without a Covid-19 test,
While the case only applied south of the border, local MSP Alexander Stewart has said an independent public inquiry announced by the Scottish Government must now provide information for families here.
Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP and Scottish Conservative Shadow Minister for Equalities and Older People, Mr Stewart said: “Our care homes bore the brunt of the pandemic and we know that over 20 patients who were transferred to these facilities in the Stirling area had not been tested for Covid.
“My thoughts are also with those who are grieving the loss of a loved one in our care homes. Serious errors were made by SNP Ministers in relation to our care homes and now they must be held accountable.
“The Scottish Conservatives repeatedly called for a public inquiry to find out the truth about what happened and that inquiry must now deliver the answers these families deserve.”
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In June 2020 the Observer revealed the results of a Freedom of Information request on figures for NHS Forth Valley showing 117 NHS Forth Valley patients - who had not first been tested for Covid-19 - had been discharged into local care homes in the first six weeks of the crisis.
No NHS Forth Valley patient who tested positive for the virus was discharged into a care home.
As part of the Stirling Observer investigation, figures released by NHS Forth Valley revealed only 13 of their 130 patients moved into care homes between March 1 and April 15, 2020 were first tested for the virus.
On April 15, 2020 NHS England made it mandatory for patients to test negative for Covid-19 before being discharged from hospitals into care homes. The Scottish Government followed suit on April 21.
In June that year, an NHS Forth Valley spokesperson told the Stirling Observer the health board “followed all relevant national guidance on this issue”, adding: “Before mandatory testing was introduced prior to discharge care home operators were required to put in place strict isolation and infection control procedures for any care home residents with symptoms of Covid-19 until they had completed the appropriate period of self-isolation in line with national guidance.”
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said last year that its Covid-19 Death Investigation Team had received more than 2000 reports of deaths from the virus in care homes north of the border.
Public Health Scotland discharge data published in October 2021 revealed that 78 patients who tested positive for the virus were moved into care homes across the country in the period from March 1 to April 21.
That figure is taken from the 650 patients who were tested during that period but the majority - just over 81 per cent - of care home discharges were NOT tested for the virus, in line with guidelines the time.
The report stated that there was no statistical evidence to prove that hospital discharges were the cause of Covid outbreaks in carehomes, but added that almost a third of care homes in Scotland reported an outbreak between March 1 and June 21, with the likelihood of positive cases being reported heavily linked to the size of the home.
In December 2021, the Deputy First Minister announced that the Hon. Lady Poole would chair the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry.
On appointment, Lady Poole said: “The death of so many as a result of Covid-19 is a tragedy, and others have suffered in many different ways. The inquiry will work independently to establish the facts in an open and transparent way in order to determine what lessons can be learned for the future.”
The inquiry is aiming for a public launch in early summer 2022, which will be announced at www.covid19inquiry.scot.
