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A Scottish care home chief says hundreds of employees and residents across the industry may be carrying coronaviruses undetected due to “faulty” government advice.
Robert Kilgour, who runs 15 nursing homes, told Sky News that COVID-19 The test results show that a considerable number of staff and residents have tested positive without showing symptoms.
This despite the repeated insistence of the Scottish government that a test is only effective if someone is symptomatic.
Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has argued that tests on people without coronavirus The symptoms are not reliable.
Kilgour says the evidence indicates that the government’s stance is putting lives at risk.
Several of their Renaissance Care homes were subjected to massive testing, following the COVID-19 cases.
When 233 residents without symptoms were analyzed, 25 (11%) were found to have the virus. Tests of 146 asymptomatic staff found that 9 (6%) were positive.
Kilgour, chief executive of the chain of nursing homes, told Sky News that if those numbers were replicated across the sector, several hundred untested employees and residents could unknowingly have the coronavirus.
“People unfortunately died due to unavailability of evidence in nursing homes,” he said.
“The question is whether or not the Scottish government considers these percentages to be acceptable figures.
“The fact is, and these numbers support it, that routine mass testing should have been done in nursing homes a long time ago, symptoms or not.
“Our experience largely contradicts what the Scottish government has repeatedly said: that there is no point in evaluating people who are asymptomatic. That is demonstrably not the case.”
“Everyone makes mistakes. The Scottish government should admit that it has dropped the ball on testing in nursing homes and that its policy is flawed.”
The results of the chain of care homes appear consistent with a study from the University of Cambridge.
He took samples and examined the NHS staff at Addenbrooke Hospital in Cambridge. Of more than 1,000 reporting fit for work, 3% tested positive for coronavirus.
Currently, mass testing of staff and residents is only performed as part of an “improved outbreak investigation” when a care home has had cases of COVID-19.
Otherwise, there is evidence of symptomatic staff and residents in nursing homes without any case, but only on a “sampling” basis.
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A Scottish government spokesman said: “We are conducting an advanced investigation into outbreaks in nursing homes reporting COVID-19 cases.
“If cases are reported, all residents and staff will be evaluated, regardless of symptoms.
“We are also testing in related institutions where care homes are part of a chain and staff moves between locations.
“Sample tests are also being conducted in homes where no cases have been reported.
“Our priority is to conduct tests for clinical reasons, for example, in hospitals or nursing homes, followed by key workers in our health and care system.
“Other key workers and their families have also been tested to allow them to return to work.
“In addition, the Prime Minister made it clear that we are engaged in a significant expansion of testing capacity to support a test approach, tracing, isolation, and expanding surveillance will be a crucial part of any move to lift blocking measures in the future”. “
Nicola Sturgeon has been criticized for handling the crisis in nursing homes
Nicola Sturgeon faced criticism in the Scottish Parliament’s Prime Minister’s questions about his government’s performance on home care tests.
Scottish conservatives have called it “absolute failure” and both Scottish Labor and the Scottish Greens have called for a COVID-19 to be guaranteed to all homeworkers.
New figures from the Scottish National Registers have again shown that more than half (57%) of deaths in Scotland occurred in nursing homes in the week of April 27 to May 3.
The weekly total of nursing home deaths decreased for the second consecutive week, from 314 to 238.
The total number of deaths from COVID-19 in Scotland is 3,213.
