Number of virus-positive patients sent to care homes to be revealed

Public Health Scotland has been ordered to reveal how many patients were transferred from hospitals to care homes after testing positive for coronavirus.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman announced she has instructed the organisation to produce the new data, including how many people were thought to be infectious when moved.

It comes after it emerged at the weekend that at least 37 potentially infectious people in Ayrshire hospitals who tested positive for the disease were still sent to care homes.

The health secretary said: “We have worked to make as much data available as is practical on a range of issues related to Covid-19 and that is why I have today asked Public Health Scotland to work with boards to produce validated statistics and analysis on the number of patients who tested positive for Covid and were subsequently admitted to a care home.

“That includes examining how many were assessed as being discharged when they were considered to be infectious and the rationales that were in place for such a discharge, for example in the cases of palliative care concerns.”

Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron branded decisions to move patients who had tested positive as “potentially fatal mistakes”.

He said: “It has taken months for this chamber and the Scottish public to learn that 37 patients were sent to care homes.

“The first minister has a broadcast every day and she did not mention it.

“We only heard about these appalling mistakes, mistakes that possibly caused lives, because of a newspaper investigation and one that didn’t even include responses from every health board in Scotland.”

He added: “Nearly 2,000 people have died in care homes in Scotland from coronavirus, every single one of them an unspeakable tragedy.”

“Nearly 2,000 people have died in care homes in Scotland, every single one of them a...tragedy. TORY HEALTH SPOKESMAN DONALD CAMERON