Leonard backs possible legal action on care home transfers

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard has backed the prospect of legal action against those involved in the transfer of Covid-19-positive patients from hospital into care homes.

Mr Leonard said people who had “knowingly decided” to send such patients to care homes, and those who had transferred people into homes when they knew coronavirus was present, “must face justice, if necessary in a court of law”.

He pledged: “We know that families are already considering bringing about prosecutions. And we will be on the side of those families in their pursuit of justice.”

Mr Leonard was unclear over who might face legal action in Scotland, but said cases were being raised internationally against care providers and state and federal governments.

It emerged last weekend that at least 37 potentially infectious people in Ayrshire hospitals who had tested positive for the virus were still sent to care homes.

Mr Leonard, who has spoken about the death of his uncle in a home in England, described the revelation as “shocking news”.

In a speech broadcast online, he said: “I wish care home residents in Scotland had been better protected during this crisis.

“But we know that while only 0.7% of the population live in our care homes, almost 50% of all Covid-19 deaths have been in care homes

“In fact the situation is so bad that the Scottish Human Rights Commission had to call for the future Covid-19 public inquiry to investigate whether the fundamental human right to life of residents has been violated.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already pledged a public inquiry will examine the issues surrounding Covid-19 and care homes.

Mr Leonard added: “We need to go further, so that those who knowingly decided to transfer patients with Covid-19 to care homes, and those who knowingly took the decision to transfer patients to care homes in the full and certain knowledge that there was Covid-19 already present, must face justice, if necessary in a court of law.”

Asked by journalists if this opened up the prospect of “doctors and NHS managers being hauled before the courts on criminal charges”, Mr Leonard said there was already evidence of families in Scotland preparing to take legal action “because of the treatment of their elderly relatives in care homes”.

The Labour leader added: “The trail in some cases may rest at the level of the care home, in other cases it may rest at a higher level.

“Our continued concern has been the guidance that was issued in the name of the Scottish Government, which dictated the policies and practices followed out in the field.

“There will, I think, be questions in the end that will need to be answered by government,” he said.

“Internationally there are examples of class actions being entered which have led to variously a number of respondents’ names, whether that be providers, whether that be state governments, whether that be federal governments.

“I would imagine we are looking at potentially the same kind of course being pursued by people in Scotland.”

Mr Leonard said cases were being raised internationally against care providers and governments.