Revealed: The number of patients that hospitals sent to care homes without doing Covid-19 test

NEW data has revealed the parts of Wales which discharged the most people into care homes without a test.

Between March 1 and the end of May, 2,355 people were discharged from Welsh hospitals into care homes.

Of them, only approximately 700 were tested for the virus (one health board did not reveal how many were tested).

Leading experts and a Western Mail investigation found that hospital discharges are one of the principle ways that the virus was able to enter Welsh care settings, resulting in the deaths of more than 700 people.

It was not until April 29 that the Welsh Government made it mandatory in Wales that people being sent from hospitals into care homes should be routinely tested – two weeks after England.

A series of Freedom of Information Requests (FOIs) has found that one health board only tested 6.8% of all hospital discharges between March 1 and May 31.

Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board tested 33 of 488 people it discharged into care homes for the virus during that period. This included a month where every hospital to care setting discharge had to be tested.

This statistic is made all the more stark because no other health board tested less than 29%, with some testing at as much as 60%. The health board is currently the centre of the outbreak that’s centred on Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Last week the Western Mail broke the story of Margaret Blaylock, 83, who was discharged without a test into her daughter’s care even though the hospital knew she had been exposed to someone with the virus. No test was taken. Margaret was later readmitted and died of the virus.

The health board had previously failed to report 85 coronavirus deaths because they were not using the correct electronic system.

How did the other health boards perform?

■ Hywel Dda: 142 tested of 356 discharges – 40%

■ Swansea Bay: 139 tested of 319 discharges – 44%

■ Aneurin Bevan: 256 tested of 414 discharges – 62%

■ Cwm Taf: 104 tested out of 309 discharges – 34%

■ Powys: 26 tested out of 89 discharges – 29%

■ Cardiff and Vale: 380 discharges but the health board said it would take them too long to work out how many were tested.

What is clear from the seven FOIs