Nearly 200 Scottish care homes took in mainly untested patients
- Published
Jo Barrie (left) with her mother Nancy Lovering who was discharged from hospital to a care home and was lost to Covid
In the early days of the pandemic more than half of elderly hospital patients discharged to nearly 200 Scottish care homes had not been tested for Covid.
Data obtained by the BBC from Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides the clearest picture yet on which homes took in untested and positive patients.
A lawyer acting for bereaved families at an upcoming inquiry called the data "explosive evidence".
Aamer Anwar claimed it was proof that people's lives had been put at risk.
The figures, which were released 11 months after BBC Scotland had asked for them, focus on hospital discharges between March and May 2020 - which was the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The PHS data, released under freedom of information laws, appears in this interactive dashboard, external and shows every hospital discharge by individual care home in Scotland.
It reveals what proportion of people discharged were untested or positive and what proportion of beds might have been occupied by discharged patients.
Freeing up hospital beds
Although the data cannot be used to link discharges to outbreaks or deaths in any given home, solicitor Mr Anwar believed it proved that lives had been put at risk.
He is acting on behalf of members of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice and told BBC Scotland: "The data supports what many bereaved families have always suspected, that elderly patients were discharged without any regard for a duty of care owed to them, or to residents and care home staff.
"Many of the grieving families I represent describe what took place in our care homes as a massacre that could have been avoided, had a simple test taken place prior to discharge.
"The data makes for explosive evidence for a pending Scottish Covid-19 Public Inquiry."
Ms Sturgeon has admitted that the way elderly people were discharged from hospital to care homes in the early stages of the pandemic was a mistake
At the start of the pandemic, thousands of elderly people who no longer needed to be in hospital were discharged into many of Scotland's 1,000 plus care homes.
This was at a time when the Scottish government was being advised that spare capacity was needed in wards to accommodate coronavirus cases. It was also before testing was commonplace.
Only on 21 April 2020 it became mandatory for hospital patients to have two negative Covid tests before being discharged, and for all new care home admissions to be isolated for 14 days.
Between 1 March and 21 April 2020 in Scotland, 82% of the 3,595 discharged patients were not tested.
'Cleared at all costs'
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon later called the way patients were discharged a "mistake".
But solicitor Anwar said: "It's all very well to say with the benefit of hindsight a mistake was made, but we knew at the time elderly people were dying at a rapid rate.
A recent PHS report concluded it "cannot rule out" a link between patients being discharged from hospital and Covid outbreaks in care homes.
A Scottish government spokesman said the PHS analysis "found care home size is very strongly related to outbreaks and concluded there was no clear statistical evidence that hospital discharges were associated with care home outbreaks."
He added: "These latest figures do not change that conclusion. Decisions to discharge patients are not made by ministers, but health and social care professionals, alongside the patient and their family."
Scottish Conservative social care spokesman Craig Hoy said the figures showed that "critical errors" by the Scottish government meant it had "completely failed to protect our elderly and vulnerable residents in care facilities, which has resulted in thousands of families grieving the loss of a loved one."
What does the data show?
This interactive dashboard, external reveals for the first time the 843 homes into which each of the 5,198 patients was discharged to between 1 March and 31 May 2020.
The data also shows the 752 homes which took in untested patients between 1 March and 21 April 2020.
And the figures reveal the 75 homes which took in at least one patient who had tested positive - and who had never received a negative test prior to discharge.
The data also revealed:
That while the average number of discharges to Scottish homes was at least five, Oakminster Healthcare's Chester Park Care Home in Glasgow received the most (46) between March and May 2020 - which equates to more than half of the beds in the home. At least 19 of these were untested hospital patients discharged between during 1 March and 21 April 2020
The Rutherglen Care Home run by Advinia took in the most untested discharges (28) - that is at least 70% of all the 40 discharges between March and May 2020
The Lower Johnshill home run by the Methodist Homes Association took in 10 discharged patients - none of them were tested for coronavirus prior to entering the home
There were nearly 200 homes where at least half of incoming residents were untested
Five patients testing positive were discharged to the Drummond Grange Nursing Home run by Barchester Healthcare - at least 21% of all 23 discharges to the home
An Advinia spokesperson said: "In the earliest days of the crisis, when, by comparison, little was known about the virus, particularly the asymptomatic nature of transmission, our care homes found themselves on the frontline."
They added that care was given in accordance to guidelines and all of its homes were are "prepared as they could been at the time the pandemic started".
A statement from Barchester Healthcare said that given ongoing investigations by Police Scotland and the Crown Office it was not appropriate to comment on specific cases.
It added: "The beginning of the pandemic was a very difficult time for everyone with so little known about the virus, testing, or airborne and asymptomatic transmission."
Oakminster Healthcare and Methodist Homes Association has been contacted for a comment.
'They wanted my mother out of the hospital'
Jo Barrie said there was a "lot of pressure" to get her mother into a care home.
She recalled: "I was getting almost daily calls from a social worker just push, push, pushing all the time. They wanted her out of that hospital as soon as."
Nancy Lovering, was admitted to Perth Royal Infirmary in late February 2020 with a chest infection and after several weeks the 88-year-old was deemed well enough to be discharged.
Due to her mother's Alzheimer's and increasing frailty, a social worker advised the family to start looking for care homes.
They initially thought they had time to find the right accommodation, but Jo was contacted by a senior social worker who told her she just needed to "find somewhere that's got a space". "I ended that phone call in tears," she said.
'Deepest sympathies'
Nancy was discharged into the Ancaster House Care Home in mid-March, but she did not take a test. Jo says that after a quarantine period of 14 days, and being symptom free, her mother was allowed into the residence's public areas.
Four days later Jo says her family were emailed by the home to inform them that three residents had been diagnosed with coronavirus. Nancy then became ill and was admitted back into hospital where she died six days later from coronavirus.
The new data reveals that 13 people were discharged to Ancaster House between March and May 2020. At least one patient was untested, and at least one other was discharged, despite testing positive for coronavirus.
Jo said: "I keep replaying back in my mind the day I dropped her off at the home. I feel as if I gave her a death sentence."
She says thousands of families still have unanswered questions.
A statement by the home said: "We would like to share our deepest sympathies with everyone who has lost a loved one to Covid-19 and send our condolences again to Nancy's family. Since the start of the pandemic, we have rigorously adhered to all guidance provided by the Scottish government, Health Protection Scotland and our local authority."
NHS Tayside, the health board which covers Perth Royal Infirmary, from where Nancy was discharged, said that from early April 2020 patients leaving hospital and going into care homes were tested.
A spokesperson added: "The decision to transfer a patient from hospital to a care home is always based on clinical judgement and is undertaken in discussion with the family and a multi-disciplinary team which includes doctors, nurses and other health and care staff, including staff at the care home."
Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate of nearly 10,500 people in Scotland
The Scottish government confirmed last month that Scotland was to hold a public inquiry into the handling of the Covid pandemic by the end of the year and would scrutinise decisions that were taken over the course of the crisis.
The Scottish inquiry will investigate "events causing public concern", including the high number of deaths in care homes, and will examine the explanations of the decisions that were taken and the causes of "anything which may not have gone as expected".
Mr Anwar said: "We aim to hold to account those officials in hospitals who took the decision to discharge without tests, especially at a time when our hospitals were in complete shutdown, fearful of spreading the virus."
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