Question reference: S5W-31464
- Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 28 August 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 September 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the figures for the number of hospital patients with COVID-19 on 25 August 2020, which state that there were 767 such patients in the UK, and 257 patients in Scotland, for what reason the figure for Scotland is disproportionately high for its population.
Answer
We are aware that our hospitalisation figures include people who may remain in hospital for other reasons, but may no longer be suffering from Covid. We have been working with NHS Boards to identify a more meaningful public measure for this point in the pandemic, which can be extracted from their information systems daily, and that more clearly focuses on hospital inpatients with a recent positive COVID-19 test.