Learn from mistakes in Covid-19 response

The absurdity of moving Covid-19 positive patients from hospitals into care homes filled with vulnerable residents is clear in the cold light of day. Almost half of those who have died of the virus in Scotland – nigh on 2,000 people – were residents of care homes.

Homes are places where people go to be looked after in their dotage. The last thing residents or their families would expect to happen is for a major threat to their health to be helped through the front door.

That appears to be exactly what happened as the NHS’S pandemic planning went into overdrive and Scotland prepared for lockdown.

While that context may be a mitigating factor , it does not fully explain what occurred.

Where the fault lies will, no doubt, only be decided in the fullness of time and probably in a court of law.

But whether it sits with hospital clinicians or managers or the individual care operators or wider care structures, what is clear is it cannot be allowed to happen again.

It is imperative, therefore, that the issue is fully bottomed out not only to provide grieving families with answers but to give others confidence that mistakes will not be repeated.

As a new virus, there was no handbook for how to handle Covid. It remains highly infectious and a deadly enemy.

Some decisions that were taken were wrong and some may even have been dangerous to public health.

They must be identified and lessons learned.