At a council meeting in Dumfries on March 20, operations manager Heather Collinton said work was underway to transfer people from hospitals to care homes locally to free up beds.
Similar schemes were happening all over Scotland on the order of the Scottish Government, who have recently come under fire for not initially insisting those people should be tested for Covid-19. That decision is being blamed for outbreaks of the disease in some care homes nationally.
However, Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership (DGHSCP) told DNG Media this week that they ‘proactively introduced testing’ for individuals discharged to a care home setting from March 31, ahead of the Scottish Government guidance issued on April 21.
A spokesman said: “The testing involved an individual requiring two negative tests prior to discharge to a care home setting being arranged. Initial data indicates that no patient discharged to a care home setting had a subsequent positive test for Covid-19 within a four week period.
“We will have further detail on our local analysis in the coming weeks.”
He also confirmed they are currently reviewing ‘in detail’ all discharges from a hospital to care home setting, including those returning to their care home and new admissions to a care home.
Meanwhile, at the March 20 meeting, Ms Collinton also revealed that hotels were being lined up as a plan B option in case the care homes reached capacity.
But DGHSCP now say no-one was required to be discharged to a hotel.
