COVID-19: 338 patients with the virus were discharged from Scottish hospitals to care homes

A total of 338 patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 were discharged from Scottish hospitals into care homes in the three months from March this year, says a report from Public Health Scotland.

The discharges were necessary to free up space in hospitals for COVID-19 patients but some care home owners have claimed that it introduced the virus into their premises, causing almost 2000 deaths across Scotland.2

Public Health Scotland says that most of the 3599 discharges that took place in the busiest month of March were among people who had never been tested. Of the 650 who were tested, 78 were positive, but the discharges still went ahead.

Scotland has been found to have the highest rate of COVID-19 related deaths in care homes of any part of the UK.

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Source: BMJ, 29 October 2020