Coronavirus: 'No evidence' discharges to care homes led to more deaths

There is currently "no evidence" that the discharge of 1,097 patients into care homes without a coronavirus test has led to more deaths, the health minister has said.

Vaughan Gething said the decision at the time not to test everybody "was because that's where the evidence and advice was at the time".

He dismissed calls for an inquiry into the matter.

Plaid Cymru said Mr Gething's comments defied logic.

Earlier this week the Welsh Government confirmed figures initially published by WalesOnline that 1,097 patients were sent from hospital to care homes during March and April.

Care Forum Wales, which represent the sector, said on Monday care homes felt under pressure to take hospital patients without tests.

There have been a total of 663 Covid-19 deaths in care homes up to 12 June - just over 28% of coronavirus deaths in Wales reported by the Office of National Statistics.

Care Inspectorate Wales figures show it was notified of 3,035 deaths in care homes since 1 March.

That was 82% higher than deaths reported for the same time period last year, and 50% higher than for the same period in 2018.

Mr Gething said the Welsh Government had been "really upfront" about the situation, rejecting calls from the Welsh Conservatives for a inquiry.

"There's no secret about this, we were clear at the time about the evidence and the advice we had, and the decision that ministers made," he said.

"And my decision at the time about not introducing testing for everyone who has been discharged from the hospital into a care home was because that's where the evidence and advice was at the time.

"We changed the decision. I made different choices when that advice changed."

Mr Gething added that when the discharges happened in March and April "we needed to move people out of hospital quickly… because we had to prepare our NHS for the wave that was coming".

"There's no evidence at present... that the discharge of people from hospitals into care homes has definitely led to excess deaths within the care home environment," he told the daily Welsh Government press conference, adding: "I want to understand more of that."

He said he had already asked for an inquiry "into excess deaths in Wales", and expected there would be an interim report before the summer Senedd recess.

Mr Drakeford said on Monday that early in the pandemic "the advice was to test symptomatic people, anybody who had symptoms were tested before they left hospital".

"The advice early on was that the testing of people without symptoms would not have given useful outcomes," he said.

Mario Kreft of Care Forum Wales told BBC Wales "informed commentators across the UK have connected deaths in care homes with unsafe discharges from hospital".

Mr Kreft said it was "somewhat difficult to believe" there is no evidence. "That is why we believe a public inquiry is needed," he said.

His group remains of the view, he added, that "unsafe discharges from hospital, over 1000 people during that very important time, without testing, has contributed to deaths in care homes of the people being transferred, and actually residents who actually were already in those care homes".

Plaid Cymru's local government spokesperson Delyth Jewell said she had spoken to care home managers who insisted the virus had been brought into their homes through this route, "and that a significant number of deaths followed".

"The Welsh Government must immediately publish the advice they claim supported their decision, including whether the advice was predicated on a direction by themselves that hospital capacity was to be prioritised over preventing infection in care home," she added.