Question reference: S5W-34234
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 23 December 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 January 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether any discharge of patients who have (a) been untested and (b) tested positive for COVID-19 into care homes is a breach of the human rights of care home (i) residents and (ii) staff.
Answer
Discharge decisions for individual patients are made by clinicians based on each patient’s needs. If somebody is discharged to a care home that should be because that has been assessed as the best place to meet their needs. As with other parts of the UK, guidance on discharge and admission to care homes has evolved since the start of the pandemic as understanding of the virus developed.
The overall policy, which has been in place since 22 April, is that people being admitted to a care home should have a negative test before admission, unless it is in the clinical interests of the person to be moved, and then only after a full risk assessment.
In a very small number of exceptional circumstances - and only where a clinician has judged that this is in the best interest for the care of their patient – some individuals may be discharged without being tested before admission. This may be due to an individual’s capacity to consent to testing or to avoid causing distress in some people with dementia. In such circumstances clinicians would also have to consider whether it is clinically appropriate to keep a patient in hospital.