Freeman admission on early tests

MANDATORY Covid testing for patients sent to care homes from hospital should have been rolled out earlier, the health secretary has admitted.

Jeane Freeman said yesterday that if she had known how rapidly Covid-19 would spread through residential facilities, testing would have been introduced from the ‘outset’.

She also rejected claims there had been secret targets for hospitals to discharge patients – insisting this was nonsense.

Serious concerns have been raised over the Scottish Government’s handling of coronavirus in care homes, with nearly 2,000 residents dying from the virus.

Miss Freeman has faced calls to quit after it emerged hospital patients were moved into care facilities without being tested for Covid-19.

‘If I knew then what I know now, we would have been testing people earlier than April when we started it,’ she told the Daily Record. Miss Freeman made the comments just hours after it emerged that she will not seek re-election as MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley at the 2021 election. She has insisted she will continue to tackle Covid-19 as Health Secretary before leaving Government.

A leaked letter revealed Miss Freeman wrote to NHS bosses in April urging them to free up capacity in a bid to deal with a potential spike in virus cases.

Hundreds of people were admitted to care homes from hospitals without being tested for the virus. It has emerged that 37 patients were sent to residential facilities despite testing positive for Covid-19.

Scottish Labour health spokesman Monica Lennon said Miss Freeman ‘can’t hide from the grieving families of care home residents and workers who deserve answers’.