More than 100 Covid patients were sent in to Scottish care homes in 'Russian roulette' strategy

More than 100 hospital patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 were “recklessly” sent into Scottish care homes along with thousands of others who may have had the virus, an investigation has revealed.

The probe into transfers from hospitals to care homes in the early stages of the pandemic also shows that dozens of patients continued to be sent to the facilities without being tested even after the Scottish Government overturned its previous policy to make pre-transfer tests mandatory.

Opposition parties said the findings of the Public Health Scotland report exposed a “scandal”, amid fears that the vulnerable residents were put at risk as a result of Scottish Government policies. The report authors said it was “likely” that hospital discharges were the original source of infection in a “small number” of cases.

The Scottish Government’s handling of care homes, where almost half of the country’s Covid-19 deaths have been recorded, has come under intense scrutiny with ministers yesterday accused of adopting a “Russian roulette strategy”.

Nicola Sturgeon said she took ultimate responsibility for the practice, but pointed to the conclusions of the reports authors, whose complicated statistical models did not prove a definitive link between the transfers from hospitals to care homes and subsequent outbreaks.

The findings showed that between March 1 and April 21, when a policy requiring two negative tests before a hospital patient was sent to a care home was introduced, 68 patients who had tested positive for coronavirus, without then receiving a negative test, were sent to care homes. During the same period, another 2,949 were sent from hospitals to care homes without being tested.

Even after the policy was changed amid growing alarm about spiralling death tolls, a further 112 were sent into care homes without being tested, up to May 31, with a further 45 discharged after testing positive with no subsequent negative test.

Overall, of the 113 patients who were sent from hospitals to care homes after testing positive over March, April and May, but did not later test negative before discharge, 52 were transferred within a week of a first positive test.

Monica Lennon, Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman, said: “The decision to move patients with Covid-19 into care homes was reckless and SNP ministers must be held to account for this Russian roulette strategy.

“The combination of knowingly transferring the virus into care homes and not bothering to test hundreds of other patients before moving them is unfathomable.

“Covid-19 positive or untested patients should never have been discharged from hospital into care homes, but Scottish Government guidance from 13 March left the door open for this to occur.”

Police Scotland is currently assisting the Crown Office in its investigation of care home deaths, in what is understood to be a major probe.

According to the authors of the report, there is good evidence that there was no increased risk of a care home outbreak if someone who tested negative was transferred to a care home. In untested patient transfers, their "best estimate" was that this led to a 27 per cent increase in risk and after transferring a Covid-positive patient, the estimated figure was 45 per cent.

They wrote: “We therefore cannot exclude a moderate to large excess risk from a care home receiving a discharge where the last test was positive.”

However, due to the limited numbers of cases and a wide range of other factors, they said the differences were not “statistically significant” and therefore a conclusive link had not been established.

They said the size of a care home was a far more effective indicator than discharges, with larger homes far more likely to suffer outbreaks. Of homes with 90 or more beds, more than 90 per cent saw an outbreak, compared to less than 20 per cent in those with 20 to 29 beds.

At her coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said the report had shown that "hospital discharges were not found to have contributed to a significantly higher risk of an outbreak".

She added: “"Nothing in it detracts from the tragedy of the deaths that have occurred in care homes over the course of the pandemic and nothing ever will detract from the heartbreak of those bereaved."