Hundreds of patients moved to care homes without testing
Figures reveal numbers discharged in pandemic’s early weeks
HUNDREDS of patients were discharged from Stepping Hill Hospital into care homes without being tested for coronavirus during the early weeks of the pandemic, the Stockport Express and the Local Democracy Reporting Service can reveal.
The response to a Freedom of Information request to Stockport NHS Foundation Trust shows 391 people left the hospital for ‘care settings’ between March 1 and April 15.
Of these, 63 were tested for Covid. And 29 had tested positive for Covid-19 during their stay in hospital.
Hospital bosses say they followed government guidance at the time and anyone who was unwell or showing symptoms of coronavirus would not have been discharged.
A spokesman for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said: “We liaised fully with the local authority, local care home providers and the patients and their families themselves on this process to ensure all necessary steps were taken to help stop the spread of the infection.”
But MPs have since described discharging patients from hospitals into care homes without first testing them for Covid-19 as ‘an appalling error’.
A report from the cross-party Public Accounts Committee said that it was a ‘reckless and negligent policy.’
HUNDREDS of patients were discharged from Stepping Hill Hospital into care homes without being tested for coronavirus during the early weeks of the pandemic, the Stockport Express and the Local Democracy Reporting Service can reveal.
The response to a Freedom of Information request to Stockport NHS Foundation Trust shows 391 people left the hospital for ‘care settings’ between March 1 and April 15 this year.
Of these, 63 were tested for Covid. And 29 had tested positive for Covid19 during their stay in hospital.
Hospital bosses say they followed government guidance at the time and anyone who was unwell or showing symptoms of coronavirus would not have been discharged.
The government did not switch to a policy of testing all patients being sent from hospitals to care homes until April 15, although some trusts were already doing so.
A spokesman for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said: “As per government guidance the trust discharged patients when they were medically fit to leave, to free up capacity in preparation for the pandemic.
“We liaised fully with the local authority, local care home providers and the patients and their families themselves on this process to ensure all necessary steps were taken to help stop the spread of the infection.”
Health secretary Matt Hancock has claimed the government put a ‘protective ring around’ care homes from the very start of the crisis.
But Whitehall has faced serious criticism for its handling of social care over those first few weeks - from shortages of personal protective equipment to allowing visitors until full lockdown at the end of March.
Care England - the leading representative body for the sector - said social care providers were left feeling ‘abandoned’.
And MPs have since described discharging patients from hospitals into care homes without first testing them for Covid-19 as ‘an appalling error’.
A report from the crossparty Public Accounts Committee said that it was a ‘reckless and negligent policy’ and that the government had stuck to it ‘even once it was clear there was an emerging problem’.
On March 17 the NHS wrote to trusts telling them to ‘urgently discharge all hospital inpatients who are medically fit to leave’ to help free up 15,000 beds for the expected first wave of admissions.
Official guidance at the time said: “Negative tests are not required prior to transfers/admissions into the care home.”
It wasn’t until April 15 that a new ‘ adult social care plan’ confirmed the government was moving to ‘a policy of testing all residents prior to admission to care homes’
It stated: “We are mindful that some care providers are concerned about being able to effectively isolate COVID-positive residents, and we are determined to make sure discharges into nursing or social care do not put residents currently in those settings at risk.
“We can now confirm we will move to institute a policy of testing all residents prior to admission to care homes. This will begin with all those being discharged from hospital and the NHS will have a responsibility for testing these specific patients, in advance of timely discharge.”
There were more than 4,000 coronavirus-related deaths in care homes up to April 24, according to the Care Quality Commission.