Fines more likely in deprived areas
Nicola Sturgeon has said she could not stand in the way of families seeking legal redress in connection to patients being moved from hospitals into care homes with a positive Covid-19 test.
The First Minister said it would be “completely inappropriate” for her to talk about any potential legal action but admitted that people “have a right to pursue” any legal rights or redress they feel entitled to.
Her comments came after Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said his party would support families
People living in the most deprived areas of Scotland are 12 times more likely to receive Covid-19-related fines than those in the least deprived, according to research.
A University of Edinburgh study found people living in the poorest areas of Scotland are more likely to receive fixed penalty notices (FPN) for breaking lockdown regulations.
Almost one third of all FPNS were issued to people living in the 10% most deprived communities.
Professor Susan Mcvie, from Edinburgh University, found that 4,328 notices were issued in total between March 27 and May 31.
Police were given emergency powers to help deal with the pandemic, which includes the ability to break up house parties, as well as using “reasonable force” to return people home.
Professor Mcvie said: “The disparity in the likelihood of receiving an FPN for breaching the coronavirus exploring legal action againts those involved in the transfer of Covid-positive patients.
Mr Leonard said people who had “knowingly decided” to send such patients into 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 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 in an investigation by The Sunday Post that at least 37 potentially infectious people in Ayrshire hospitals who had tested regulations among those in the most and the least deprived communities of Scotland is startling.
“This report highlights the possibility that there may have been justice inequalities, in terms of who has been subject to enforcement and the drivers of their non-compliance.”
The data also showed that FPNS rose sharply at the start of lockdown, with a few repeat breaches. Penalties were also more likely to be issued to men, young people and people from white backgrounds. Four out of five who received a penalty had come to the attention of the police in the past.
The Greater Glasgow area had the most FPNS, but as a proportion of the population, more were issued in Agyll and West Dunbartonshire.
This was mainly due to people visiting Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, the research found. positive for the virus were still sent to care homes. Mr Leonard said: “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.”
Asked 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”.
He said: “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.
“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.”
Ms Sturgeon reiterated the Scottish Government’s commitment to hold an inquiry into its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic with a focus on care homes.
She said: “It is completely inappropriate for me to talk about legal action that anybody may take either civil or criminal.
“Peopleofcoursehavearight to pursue any legal rights they think they have and to pursue any legal redress that they think they have and as a general principle I think that is one everybody adheres to.
“It is very easy for people who have not had to take these decisionsanddohavethebenefitof hindsight that those of us taking the decisions didn’t have when we took those decisions to say what should have happened.”
Scotland recorded 71 positive testsinthepast24hourstoyesterday – the country’s second highest number of coronavirus cases since since 23 May.
She said 68 cases have been identified in a cluster in Coupar Angus linked to the 2 Sisters poultry factory – 59 employees of the plant and nine of their contacts. Two of the contacts also have a link to two other factories in Tayside.
NHS Tayside announced on Thursday that anyone living in a household with a factory worker from the 2 Sisters site should self isolate at home.
Ms Sturgeon said the decision was made as part of “targeted” measures designed to reduce the likelihood of the outbreak establishing community transmission.