Question reference: S5W-33195
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 12 November 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 December 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people work in care home settings of any nature or provide in-home social care to older or vulnerable people; (a) how many and (b) what percentage of these staff have had asymptotic testing for COVID-19; how often this testing has taken place, and what percentage of tests have been positive.
Answer
The latest data published by Scottish Social Services Council shows that 53,080 staff worked in adult care homes and a further 71,350 in adult care at home/housing support. A total of 124,430 staff.
There is currently a weekly offer of testing available to all care home staff however they will not all be at work each week for various reasons, including annual leave etc. On that basis the assumption is that 70% is a more accurate benchmark and therefore we expect that circa 37,000 staff tests should be carried out on a weekly basis.
In the latest reporting week (9th - 15th November 2020) 42,022 care home staff (79%) were tested, comprising 9,175 staff in homes with confirmed covid, and 32,847 staff in homes with no cases of confirmed covid. This data is published weekly.
The Clinical Review of our testing strategy was published in October which set out clear clinical advice on the priorities to be followed and an update was provided to Parliament in November on the plans which included testing of social care frontline staff.
Details of positive tests are not currently published but trend information is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-trends-in-daily-data/ .