In the Herald today:
THE media is full of lynch mobs baying for blood over Holyrood’s decision to relocate hundreds of elderly bed-blockers from NHS hospitals to private care homes, apparently taking with them Covid-19. No matter how one tries to dress it up, the outcome has been disastrous. But wait. These poor souls didn’t need, nor probably want, to be stuck in hospital; they caught the disease while they were in hospital, not when out in the community. The problem was not that they were decanted into care homes in the midst of a pandemic, but that it wasn’t done long before that. They were unnecessarily put at risk by being in hospital. What the shambles does illustrate is the chronic problem of bed-blocking in the NHS and the continual juggling that has to be done by “bed managers” and the concomitant “clinician huddles” that have become the norm in our hospitals simply because of staff shortages and insufficient inpatient beds.
I know, it’s just a letter and it’s a free country, but the selection of which letters to publish, also reveals an agenda.
‘They caught the disease while they were in hospital, not when out in the community‘
There is no basis in evidence for this statement. All we have is anecdotal evidence, from the owner of the group, of one patient who may have entered a Balhousie Care Group home while perhaps already infected.
Public Health England, in May, and now the charitable provider BHA, today, have made clear that the overwhelming evidence is for agency staff who picked it up in their communities or on public transport, to have spread the virus in their visits to several care homes and homes in the community.
‘What the shambles does illustrate is the chronic problem of bed-blocking in the NHS‘
Two quick responses:
Bed blocking 10 times higher per head of population in NHS England than in NHS Scotland!
NHS Scotland’s supply of beds far more ‘resilient’ than that in Johnson’s NHS England
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
I was a long term carer for my father through his initial heart attack, mnor strokes and Alzheimer’s illness until his deaths. There were frequent, short visits to hospital. Knowing of my father’s dementia, doctors frequently discharged him very quickly back into my care, after an assessment of his medical needs. The NHS in Scotland would not knowingly discharge any patient suffering from covid19 to a care home without telling the care home of that.
Here is a short part of the discharge policy of NHS Scotland.
“Before a person is discharged, their physical, psychological and social needs must be assessed. Any support or care services that are required should be arranged before they leave hospital. Any organisations that will be providing these services must be informed of the date and time of the person’s discharge, and when they should start to provide the services.
If the person’s needs have changed considerably since they were admitted to hospital, they may require an assessment involving several health and social care professionals. This might involve a hospital consultant, nursing and ward staff, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, psychiatrists and registered mental health nurses. It may help to make a list of the names of people you have spoken to and their contact details.
The person with dementia and someone involved in their day-to-day care should be fully involved in this assessment. The assessment may include the person returning home briefly before they are discharged to see how they will cope and what help and adaptations they might need. This brief return home might highlight whether and where certain adaptations are needed, such as grab rails or a ramp. It will also allow these adaptations to be arranged before the person returns home. If the person’s needs have not changed considerably, they may need a more brief assessment.”
That letter in the Herald is the bottom of the journalistic barrel. Scum.
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The standards in Private companies care homes is poor because they only have one or two qualified nurses on the staff of each care home usually only one at night a legal minimum requirement , the rest of the staff are assistants not qualified in nursing care.
The spread of covid19 came from unqualified staff bringing it into care homes it did not come from patients leaving hospital who were all tested before discharge.
Private business care homes reacted to covid19 in the s same way Boris Johnston Donald trump and their governments reacted to it , herd immunity , those who die , die , those who survive, survive.
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Just in case you missed this,
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1081934212006008/permalink/1322345011298259/
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I am convinced this propaganda barrage over Care-Homes is spectacularly backfiring, not least amongst older members of once staunch unionist persuasion where it hit a nerve. Die for a political ideology which no longer exists ? How far do must you go to support a union which no longer values you as people rather than as ammunition?
I suggest the soft Nos just went though the roof, and their predecessors went hard Yes, the Blitzkreig approach of PQ, Jackass and Murray Mince is coming home to roost, and may their god help them, as nobody else will.
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