Coronavirus Hospital discharged 200 untested patients into care homes
SOUTHMEAD Hospital transferred more than 200 patients into care homes without first testing them for coronavirus.
Care homes took in 213 untested Southmead Hospital patients and 20 who had tested positive during the early weeks of the pandemic, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the Bristol Post has revealed.
The NHS had ordered trusts to “urgently” free up hospital beds without a requirement to test everyone discharged, despite complaints of insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) in care homes.
We can reveal Southmead Hospital discharged into care homes:
» 171 untested patients in March, 42 in April and none in May
» 20 patients who had tested positive “at some point during their stay” from March 1 to April 15
» Seven patients who had tested positive in the 48 hours before their discharge, between April 16 and May 31.
North Bristol MP Darren Jones says the Government has “failed” care homes, criticising the “inadequate” testing.
The North Bristol NHS trust says it was not testing patients “prior to discharge” between March 1 and April 15, meaning those patients “cannot be said to have been positive when discharged”.
It says seven coronavirus-positive patients were discharged into care homes from April 16 to May 31 “with agreement from the care provider that the necessary infection control measures and resources were in place, including the provision of additional PPE”.
Bristol care homes have been disproportionately hit by coronavirus deaths compared to national figures, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.
Some 120 people have died with Covid-19 in Bristol care homes – 48 per cent of the city’s death toll of 249.
This percentage dwarfs the average across England and Wales, where care home deaths account for only 30 per cent of the total, say the ONS statistics up to June 26.
In South Gloucestershire, also served by Southmead, there have been 80 coronavirus deaths in care homes, with a total death toll of 168. This means in South Gloucestershire, just like in Bristol, 48 per cent of the coronavirus deaths have happened in care homes.
The Post made an FOI request on June 1 for Bristol Royal Infirmary’s data on patients discharged into care homes.
The University Hospitals Bristol and Weston (UHBW) trust has passed the 20-day limit to respond and has now been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in May the Government had thrown a “protective ring” around care homes “from the start”.
But until April 15, the Government guidance said testing was a requirement only if the patients being discharged were symptomatic.
The NHS wrote to trusts on March 17 telling them to “urgently discharge all hospital inpatients who are medically fit to leave” to ensure enough hospital beds were available.
The official guidance said: “Negative tests are not required prior to transfers/admissions into the care home.”
The advice changed on April 15, when the Government said trusts needed to test all patients before being discharged into care homes.
NHS figures show 25,060 patients were moved from hospitals to care homes between March 17 and April 16.
During that period, the National Care Association, which represents small and medium-sized care providers, said care homes were “desperate” for PPE.
Care England chief executive Martin Green told MPs on March 26 that PPE supplies ordered by care homes were being diverted to hospitals.
He said: “Obviously the NHS has needs but so does social care”.
North Bristol’s Labour MP Darren Jones told the Post the Government should have done more to protect care homes.
He said: “Southmead Hospital and all of our health care providers have done an exceptional job saving lives in the most challenging circumstances.
“They’ve acted within the guidance and adapted their processes to save lives and stop the spread of this virus.
“I know that all of us in Bristol are grateful to our health and social care workers for protecting us during this pandemic.
“Care homes especially were failed by the Government, with limited supplies of PPE, inadequate testing and unclear reporting of infection rates.”
North Bristol NHS trust says “in principle” coronavirus-positive patients could still be transferred from Southmead into care homes if safety measures were in place.
Chief operating officer Evelyn Barker said: “Sadly Covid-19 does disproportionately affect frail elderly people and there are many tragic cases of care home residents dying from this terrible disease.
“Like all hospitals, when the huge wave of coronavirus was predicted to head our way in March and April, we urgently discharged medically fit patients so that we could care for everyone in need.
“Based on the expert guidance at the time, we prioritised our then limited testing capacity for symptomatic patients and we only ever discharged people when our doctors believed it was safe.
“We now know more about the risk of transmission before people display symptoms and the most recent studies have shown that much more transmission to care homes came from the community, rather than hospitals, as previously thought.
“We supported care homes with PPE supplies when required and continue to work closely with our care home colleagues to keep residents and support staff safe.”
The trust says from April 16, patients who tested positive “were supported to remain in hospital for a further 14-day isolation period” and on discharge provided with seven days of PPE.
Despite this, seven patients who had tested positive in the previous 48 hours were transferred from the hospital into care homes between April 16 and May 31.
Care homes could “informally” request an additional swab before discharge, the trust says.
The Post has asked the trust how many Southmead patients with the illness were discharged into care homes in June.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson sparked controversy this week by saying: “We discovered too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have, but we’re learning lessons the whole time.”
❝ Care homes especially were failed by the Government, with limited supplies of PPE Darren Jones MP