Covid in Scotland: Failure to reveal care home death data broke rules
- Published
About a third of Covid-related deaths in Scotland have happened in care homes
A Scottish government agency breached freedom of information rules by refusing to reveal how many people had died of Covid in each of the country's care homes.
National Records of Scotland (NRS) failed to release the data for eight months in response to media requests.
The information commissioner has now criticised NRS for a lack of transparency, external.
And he has ordered the quango to publish the statistics.
NRS said the data would now be made available in line with the commissioner's ruling.
It had attempted to argue that revealing the scale of Covid deaths in individual care homes would be detrimental to the health and safety of staff.
It also attempted to block the release of the information due what it claimed were "data protection sensitivities", and also insisted the data could harm the commercial interests of care home owners if it was made public.
But all of these arguments were rejected by commissioner Daren Fitzhenry, who found that NRS had failed to comply with freedom of information legislation by blocking the release of the data.
The Scottish Conservatives said that the ruling showed that there had been "blatantly an attempt to sweep the true scale of the scandal under the carpet".
And Scottish Labour described the refusal to publish the information as "utterly shameful".
The commissioner's decision stated: "There is a strong public interest in disclosure of the information, to ensure that older people and their relatives have the necessary information to make an informed decision when choosing a care home or care home provider.
"He considers that to deny those individuals the access to this relevant information would indeed be a lack of transparency, which is not in the public interest."
The commissioner also said he did not believe that publication of the information would result in the "adverse impacts on the care services, staff members, residents and families claimed by the registrar general".
He described some of the arguments put forward by NRS as an excuse for blocking the release of the data as "speculative in nature", and has given it until 28 June to publish the requested information.
The information had been sought as part of a collaborative project between The Scotsman, The Herald, DC Thomson and STV.
BBC Scotland had similar freedom of information requests to government bodies rejected until it was given the data by the Crown Office unit set up to gather information on the circumstances of all Covid deaths in care homes.
The BBC published the statistics in full last month, with the information showing which care homes and operators have been worst hit by the virus available through this interactive dashboard, external.
Speaking at the time, the daughter of one care home resident who had died with the virus in a home in South Lanarkshire said she had no idea five other residents had died after contracting Covid until the data was released to the BBC.
There have been more than 10,000 Covid-related deaths in Scotland, about a third of which have been in care homes.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has previously admitted that the way more than 1,300 elderly people were discharged from hospital to care homes in the early stages of the pandemic was a mistake.
The care home industry claims it was "let down" at the start of the pandemic - but the Scottish government said saving lives had always been its priority.
A spokesman for NRS said it would now "make this data available in line with the original freedom of information request and the timeframe set out by the Scottish information commissioner".
Analysis by Andrew Picken, BBC Scotland reporter
The information commissioner's criticism of the NRS arguments for withholding the data is striking.
Interestingly, the industry watchdog Care Inspectorate gave similar reasons to the NRS for not releasing its Covid deaths figures when BBC Scotland asked for them under FOI laws in April last year.
After that point, as BBC data journalist Marc Ellison pointed out, it was down to local media reporting or operators volunteering information to get any sense of where the deaths were occurring.
But if we knew the total number of care home deaths across Scotland, why did this breakdown matter?
When BBC Scotland eventually published the data last month, a number of families got in touch to say it was the first time they had heard there had been Covid deaths in the care home their relatives were living in.
Aside from this basic transparency point, releasing the data has also helped to put the deaths in some context, such as were the homes in areas of high virus transmission and what impact the size of the operator and facility had on fatality rates.
The release of the data had also been opposed by Scottish Care, which represents the independent social care sector.
Responding to the information commissioner's ruling, a spokesman for Scottish Care said: "The publication of the data in the format in which it was requested does not offer any context, narrative or understanding of the circumstances of the care homes involved.
"It does not tell the full story of the professionalism, sacrifice and dedication of frontline nursing and care staff who daily put themselves at risk and on the line to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens facing the threat of this deadly global virus."
However, the commissioner said in his report that he did not accept that disclosure of the information would lead to any confusion or misinterpretation.
He added: "There is no suggestion that the information held by the registrar general is inaccurate.
"And explanation as to the context of the information could be provided to the applicant, thus negating the claim that disclosure would lead to misinterpretation or to the public drawing wrong conclusions."
'Shocking act of secrecy'
The Scottish Conservative social care spokesman Craig Hoy said it was "truly shocking" that a Scottish government agency "believed it was appropriate to try and stop the full picture surrounding care home deaths being made public".
And he said the revelations would "appal the thousands of families grieving the loss of a loved one who died in Scotland's care homes".
Mr Hoy added: "The SNP must investigate why this shocking act of secrecy happened and explain it before parliament as soon as possible."
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: "This is utterly shameful. The SNP government breached legislation and kept the scale of care home deaths secret for eight months.
"This is another devastating blow for the care home residents and families who have been denied justice.
"Those responsible must be held accountable and lessons must be learned - we need a Scottish public inquiry without delay."
