Families of people in care homes could get routine Covid-19 tests
Families with elderly relatives in care homes could be first in line for routine coronavirus tests to ensure residential homes are not exposed to increased risk of Covid-19.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the government is also considering routine tests for community carers who work with disabled people in their own homes.
At First Minister’s Questions she was urged to increase routine testing for people without symptoms to assure both nursing home staff and families that they are not carriers of Covid-19, and was asked to put them ahead of routine testing of “younger, healthier” people.
In Holyrood yesterday SNP MSP Joan Mcalpine contrasted the consideration being given to the routine testing of students with the need to test care workers “supporting vulnerable disabled people, including learning disabled people, outside care home settings.”
She said :“Can I appeal to the First Minister that routine testing to protect disabled people should come before the routine testing of young and healthy people if a choice has to be made due to capacity?”
And Scottish Conservative MS P John Scott asked Ms Sturgeon to “consider routine testing for family members to reassure nursing home managers, that it’s safe to admit key family members into care homes as winter approaches and outdoor meetings becomes impractical.”
Ms Sturgeon said: “We are considering possible steps like that. The Health Secretary met last Friday with representatives from care home relatives groups and discussed a range of proposals put forward.
“We have our clinical and professional advisor y group advising us on this issue to strike a better balance between family and visitor contact while continuing to protect residents from the virus entering their homes.”
She added: “We have to make sure our testing decisions are driven by clinical considerations and the considerations about how we best protect vulnerable populations.
“We want our decisions to be driven for the right re asons and the group she [Ms Mcalpine] identified is very much part of our thinking as part of our winter planning for possible extension of routine testing.”