Sturgeon under fire on care home figures
But Observer revealed discharge data back in June
The First Minister has been criticised after saying she was unaware of figures relating to Covid-19 and care homes two months after they had been released to newspapers.
At the weekend it was reported Nicola Sturgeon said ministers and officials did not have information on Covid-19 results for patients being discharged from hospital, or detail about where these patients were discharged to, before the figures were published in a national newspaper in August.
But the Stirling Observer revealed the results of a Freedom of Information request on these figures for NHS Forth Valley on June 19.
We revealed 117 NHS Forth Valley patients - who had not first been tested for Covid-19 - had been discharged into local care homes in the first six weeks of the crisis.
No NHS Forth Valley patient who tested positive for the virus was discharged into a care home.
As part of the Stirling Observer investigation, figures released by NHS Forth Valley revealed only 13 of their 130 patients moved into care homes between March 1 and April 15 were first tested for the virus.
At the time, Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife Alexander Stewart described this as “truly shocking”.
On April 15 NHS England made it mandatory for patients to test negative for Covid-19 before being discharged from hospitals into care homes. The Scottish Government followed suit almost a week later on April 21.
In May we reported that 14 people had died in an outbreak in The Orchard Care Home in Tullibody and that residents had died of suspected Covid-19 at Forthbank Care Home on Drip Road.
In June, an NHS Forth Valley spokesperson told The Stirling Observer the health board “followed all relevant national guidance on this issue.”
The spokesperson added: “Before mandatory testing was introduced prior to discharge care home operators were required to put in place strict isolation and infection control procedures for any care home residents with symptoms of
Public are now demanding answers over what she and other senior ministers really knew Alexander Stewart MSP
and this was updated on March 26 to highlight the need for all admissions to be isolated for seven days and if known to have contact with Covid-19 patients for 14 days.
“The health secretary announced from April 21 that all admissions to care homes from hospital should be tested for Covid-19, regardless of symptoms and guidance was updated by midmay so everyone being admitted to a care home should have a negative test before admission, unless in the clinical interests of the person to be moved and then only after a full risk assessment, and all admissions should isolate for 14 days.
“The health secretary recognised the need for consistent and robust data across Scotland and commissioned Public Health Scotland to enable us to get definitive answers on how many people had been discharged with a positive test and the rationale for doing so.
“The findings of this work will be published this week.”