Coronavirus: Hospital care home discharges a 'grave concern'

Eighteen patients who tested positive for coronavirus were sent from North Tees hospitals into care homes as the pandemic worsened, it has emerged.

Figures from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust also revealed 311 people were discharged into homes without a Covid-19 test between 1 March and 15 April. 

After this date it was routine to test such patients for Covid-19 .

Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham said the past stance on discharge was cause for "grave concern".

The Labour MP told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "It beggars belief that any Government policy would tell hospitals to discharge patients with one of the most deadly viruses in generations directly into the care home sector which was ill equipped to deal with them.

"One in three of the 55 people tested proved positive for coronavirus - who knows how many people not tested had the virus and nobody knew until it was possibly too late and the disease was spread."

Mr Cunningham said he blamed neither hospitals nor care homes for care home discharges.

"They did what they were told by the Government," he added.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said it was doing "everything it could" to support care homes.

"A total of £1.3bn has been made available, via the NHS, to support the discharge process.

"This covers the follow-on care costs for adults in social care, or people in need of additional support, when they are out of hospital and back in their homes, community settings or care settings."

A trust spokesperson for the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust said: "Public Health England released local guidance specific to care homes - and this included detailed information about the appropriate steps that should be taken to facilitate a safe transfer of a patient who had Covid-19, or was suspected as having contact with a confirmed or suspected case in the hospital setting. 

"On 15 April the Adult Social Care action plan was released - and this included the requirement to test all patients prior to discharge from hospital to a care home."