Elderly cleared from wards to homes

CARE HOMES saw a ‘significant’ rise in elderly patients being discharged there from hospitals in a bid to clear wards.

Bosses have reported a spike in admissions in mid-March as health chiefs desperately sought to increase NHS capacity amid concerns the health service would be overwhelmed by Covid-19.

The later spread of the virus in care homes in Scotland has led to half of them suffering an outbreak, it is believed.

Ministers have finally introduced testing for all new admissions – with those who have been treated for the virus having to test negative twice before they can be admitted to a care home. This procedure was not in place at the beginning of the pandemic in Scotland.

Yesterday, Scottish Care boss Donald Macaskill said he had witnessed a significant rise in elderly patients moved from hospital to care homes. But he warned against suggestions that this was the reason why the virus was spread so quickly.

Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Politics Scotland programme, Mr Macaskill said: ‘There was a strategic attempt to address the issue of what is often called delayed discharge because everywhere we had seen the pictures, from Europe in particular, which showed an overflow of the acute system. So there was a real desire by everybody to protect the NHS. ‘And yes, as a result of that, there was an increased incentive to make sure that people were cared for in the community.’

He said he did not have the exact number of those who had been sent from hospital to care homes but said there had been a ‘significant’ rise in admissions.

This week, the Scottish Government is to introduce new powers to intervene in failing care homes during the pandemic.