The Scottish government waited two months after concerns were raised to introduce Covid tests for hospital patients being discharged into care homes, the UK’s Covid inquiry has heard.
Donald Macaskill, the chief executive of Scottish Care, which represents the country’s independent social care sector, said he warned the then-secretary for health and sport, Jeane Freeman, about the need to test outgoing hospital patients for Covid in late February 2020.
At the time, guidance from Health Protection Scotland, part of Public Health Scotland, said patients set to be discharged to care homes should be subject to a clinical assessment. It was not updated to state that patients admitted to care homes should be tested until 21 April 2020.
