FMQs: Pressure mounts for care home deaths public inquiry

Nicola Sturgeon is under mounting pressure to launch an inquiry into her government’s decision to discharge older people from hospital into care homes without being tested for Covid-19 in the wake of the coronavirus death toll.
Nicola Sturgeon is facing pressure for an inquiry into care home deaths.Nicola Sturgeon is facing pressure for an inquiry into care home deaths.
Nicola Sturgeon is facing pressure for an inquiry into care home deaths.

Opposition leaders Jackson Carlaw and Richard Leonard both demanded that the First Minister launch a full inquiry into why the decision was made to send “contagious patients” to residential homes housing those most vulnerable to the virus.

Latest figures have revealed, in the last week alone, a further 62 people have died from suspected coronavirus in care homes.

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However at First Minister’s Questions, Ms Sturgeon said her government had done “everything possible” to keep people safe and that she was concentrating on dealing with the crisis.

The Scottish Conservative leader raised the case of Sandra O’Neill, who had contacted him about the death of her mother Mary at the Almond Court care home in Drumchapel in April. A month before her death, she said there was evidence of elderly patients coming back into the facility despite displaying symptoms of coronavirus.

Mr Carlaw said it was reported last month that five deaths at the home were attributed to the disease, but the figures could now be double that, and asked if those displaying symptoms of the virus had been removed from hospitals and placed in care homes.

Ms Sturgeon said: “It’s not possible for me to comment on individual cases, but anyone who has lost a loved one to this virus understandably will have questions, and in the fullness of time we will want to answer these questions as fully as we can.

“At the time the position was that clinical risk assessments should be done of patients who were being discharged from hospital so nobody who had symptoms of coronavirus, and certainly nobody where the clinical assessment was they should continue to be in hospital, should have been discharged.

“I cannot stand here and give a categoric assurance that no patient with symptoms was discharged, it would be wrong for me to do that, but the guidance in place was very clear. At no point were older people treated like second-class citizens, at no point was anything other than the greatest care and thought given to the guidance.”

Describing the care home deaths as a “national disgrace”, Mr Carlaw said that the scale of deaths and the stories of Sandra O’Neill meant “only a full public inquiry” would deliver answers about the sending of “contagious patients back to mingle with the most vulnerable people in our society.”

Ms Sturgeon said there would undoubtedly be “a public inquiry into this whole crisis and every aspect of it including care homes.”

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She added: “Decisions were taken based on the best evidence, similar decisions were taken in Wales, England and Northern Ireland. This was not something done without proper transparency. We will look back at all of this and learn a lot.”

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard raised the case of a nurse at a care home in Lanarkshire who had told him several residents had been discharged from hospital and “none of them knew they were going to a nursing home. So when they arrived we contacted their next of kin, who didn’t know they were going to a care home either. It was all one big mess.

“We have said repeatedly you should listen to the WHO which said test, test, test, sadly the result is the consequences we see in our residential care homes. The crisis may be linked to those who have not been screened, but every day the data shows there are more new Covid-19 infections in even more care homes, it now stands at over 5500 – as many as one is six residents – and over 60 per cent of all care homes report at least one case. This crisis is not under control.

“As we start to see the easing of the lockdown the human rights and dignity of care home residents must be paramount. They will need continued protection which means widespread testing of staff, adequate PPE and true transparency. We know flawed goverment guidance led to the discharge of untested patients into care home, and it meant that care home residents were not transferred into hospitals when they were ill. The guidance must be right. Will the government commit to an urgent review of her government’s approach to care homes?”

In response, Nicola Sturgeon said: “I absolutely want there to be a review, inquiry, call it what you want into every aspect of this crisis. That will undoutedly include the situation in care homes. But right now my focus is on continuing to do everything we need to do for the remainder of this crisis. We are not through this crisis, or even this phase of this crisis. So my responsibility, and of every one of my ministers, is to focus on the decisions which still need to be taken.

“Richard Leonard is taking knowledge we have now that we did not have at the time and applying it retrospectively. He says these things are urgent, and whatever else you want to criticise, you don’t have to tell me of the urgency of this. Every waking moment is spent on trying to do the best thing to deal with this crisis.”

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