Question reference: S5W-31722
- Date lodged: 10 September 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 October 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-31461 by Jeane Freeman on 10 September 2020, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding on what date the First Minister was made aware that patients were being transferred from hospitals to care homes without being tested for COVID-19.
Answer
As explained in the answer to S5W-31461 and subsequently in the media, prior to the Sunday Post article neither Scottish Minister or Government officials had information on the testing status of patients prior to discharge.
Throughout the pandemic our guidance has been regularly updated, based on the best clinical evidence available at the time. On 13 March guidance was explicit that steps that should be taken to ensure that individual patients were screened clinically to ensure that people at risk were not transferred inappropriately. Decisions regarding readiness for discharge, and the care required after discharge are for the clinician and multi-disciplinary team caring for the patient to make.
Publish Health Scotland have been working to bring this information together, and will publish validated statistics shortly.