'Insult to grieving families' as probe into Covid patients sent to care homes delayed

The publication of a crucial report examining how many elderly people who had tested positive for coronavirus were transferred into Scottish care homes has been delayed, in a move condemned as an insult to bereaved families.

Public Health Scotland had been due to issue a report into the scale of the problem on Wednesday, after evidence emerged to suggest that patients who it was known had the virus had been knowingly sent to care homes at the start of the pandemic.

One expert described the practice, which took place as the NHS was desperate to clear hospital beds, as “like putting a lit match to dry tinder” and there are fears that it contributed to the catastrophic death toll among residents by introducing the virus into the facilities.

Nicola Sturgeon has previously used the upcoming publication of the report to sidestep answering questions about when she personally know the transfers had happened. However, it has emerged that the report, originally promised by the end of September, had been postponed due to “data quality issues”.

Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, accused the SNP of not giving the “scandal in our care homes” the attention it deserved.

He said: “They won’t own up to what went wrong and now they won’t publish key information on time.

“They repeatedly promised that this report would be published by the end of September but we’re now looking at even more delays.

“This is an outrage and an insult to all those grieving families who will be waiting another month for answers.”

Around half of coronavirus deaths in Scotland have taken place in care homes, a far higher proportion than in other parts of the UK.

Freedom of Information responses, obtained by The Sunday Post from health boards last month, suggest that at least 37 patients who had tested positive were discharged to care homes. This took place across five health boards - Ayrshire and Arran, Grampian, Tayside, Fife and Lanarkshire. Some health boards did not provide figures, meaning the true total could be higher.

Public Health Scotland said the work had been postponed, as it would involve the complex marrying together of previously disparate data sets.

Its website said: “Whilst undertaking the analyses PHS identified a number of data quality issues that need resolved.

“PHS has, therefore, made the decision to delay this publication until the 28 October to allow further data quality assurance work to be undertaken, in collaboration with NHS Boards.”

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