Elderly care home patient in Falkirk will go to hospital if they get virus

As reports filter through of several deaths in local care homes, there has also been growing national outcry at the way in which care home deaths have not been reported and the lack of testing available.

Last week, Forth Valley introduced a mobile testing service which they say has so far tested 175 care home staff, who often found it difficult to get to the drive-through centres that were set up three weeks ago.

“If someone needs to go to hospital, they absolutely will go to hospital,” said Andrew Murray, Forth Valley’s medical director.

“The hospital capacity is running at about 55 per cent occupancy so we definitely have capacity in the hospital.”

But he says that some elderly residents will have made a choice not to leave their care setting when they get ill.

Mr Murray said: “What has been really important as part of the preparations and discussions around COVID is making sure there are conversations with people and their families about what we call anticipatory care planning.

“So we try and make sure that we know exactly what some of these people who are very vulnerable would want in the event that they became more unwell and also what their families views are of that, so that we can make sure we do the right thing.

“But I want to be unequivocal – if someone needs to go to hospital they will go to hospital. We have the capacity, we have the facilities and there is absolutely no barrier to that.”

Dr Graham Foster, director of public health, said his team has been working closely with all of the 66 care homes in the Forth Valley area which are looking after around 2000 residents.

His team offer education and advice and can even provide staffing at them moment in care homes that are struggling.

Both of the health and social care partnerships in Forth Valley – one covering Falkirk, the other Stirling and Clackmannanshire – have set up control rooms to respond to requests for help from care homes.

Dr Foster said: “There’s lots going on to make sure the care homes are as robust as possible and able to look after their residents who are a very vulnerable group.”

As yet, they say they don’t have figures for the number of deaths in care homes locally but they are being collated nationally.

But while the statistics paint a frightening picture for elderly people, who make up around 70 per cent of Covid victims – they are keen to offer the reassurance that even in the elderly age group most people will only experience a mild illness.

Mr Murray said: “It’s not necessarily the case that Covid positive diagnosis means an admission to hospital in the same way that applies to the rest of the community.”

Dr Foster said that it was also important to stress that for many elderly patients the care home is their home and it was important people should return there from hospital.

He said: “We don’t want people in hospital who don’t need to be there. So, if people who are admitted to hospital with Covid get better they will want to go home and we should be stressing how positive it is that we’re actually getting to a phase of this illness where people are getting home.

“There are detailed requirements in place to make sure they are safe to go home and to make sure there is no risk to the other residents but essentially we are getting people home which is good news.”

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