Nicola Sturgeon defends 'premature' relaxation of care home visit rules as Covid-19 cases surge

Nicola Sturgeon has defended relaxing contact rules for visits to care home residents after industry chiefs argued the move was "premature" while Covid-19 cases are surging.

The First Minister said new guidance allowing residents to hold hands with their loved ones for the first time in seven months was not a "diktat" or a "free-for-all."

She said care homes must be Covid-free for 28 days and have been taking part in weekly testing for all staff to allow the visits, the maximum length of which have been extended from 30 minutes to four hours.

The First Minister also disclosed that the routine testing of care home visitors was being considered, with many virus carriers being asymptomatic.

But two leading care home operators heavily criticised relaxing the contact rules while Covid-19 cases north of the Border are spiralling to record levels in a second wave.

Balhousie Care Group, which has 25 homes across the country, said the change was "ill thought out" and it will not relax its own visiting rules until there were reassurances of safer and better practices to minimise the risk of transmission of the virus.

Robert Kilgour, executive chairman of Renaissance Care, which operates 15 homes, said the change was "absolute madness" and a "recipe for disaster" while cases were at such a high level.

Almost half of the 4,236 deaths in Scotland where coronavirus has been mentioned on the death certificate occurred in care homes.

More than a thousand patients were transferred from hospitals to care homes without being tested in the early days of the pandemic in a desperate attempt to free up ward beds.

Ms Sturgeon faced more questions over her management of the crisis in August after it emerged that patients in at least five health board areas were transferred into homes despite having tested positive.

Under the new guidance, unveiled on Monday, visitors will be permitted to hold hands with residents as long as they stick to rules to stop the infection spreading. They will also be permitted to bring gifts and belongings.

Speaking at her daily briefing, Ms Sturgeon said: "It is not an instruction to care homes that they must do this and it is, absolutely, not a free-for-all for care homes, regardless of what the position is."

She added: "Recognising the stress and anxiety and trauma often suffered by families who can't see frail loved ones in care homes, we've tried to put in place guidance to have as much visiting as possible on as safe a basis as possible.

"But I would stress it is guidance, not a diktat that all care homes must have that level of visiting if there are risk factors."

The First Minister suggested MSPs could consider whether to introduce routine testing for care home visitors when Holyrood returns from the October recess.

But Tony Banks, Balhousie's chairman, said: "While we welcome improved and enhanced care home visits, and fully appreciate the wellness benefits more visits would bring our residents, yesterday's announcement was premature and ill thought out.

"Why, in the middle of another sharp spike in community transmissions of Covid-19, would we relax our rules and put our residents and staff at possible risk of infection?"

He said Scotland's care homes "went through hell in the Spring" and "opening our doors wider only widens the risks." He added: "And for us, right now, that is an unacceptable risk."

In a letter written to relatives, the group said it supported enhanced visits but would continue with only garden and window visits for the time being.