Nicola Sturgeon: Human consequences of pandemic are ’embedded in my soul’

Nicola Sturgeon has said the human consequences of the coronavirus pandemic are “embedded in my soul” – but that she does not accept Scotland’s care home policies cost lives.

Ms Sturgeon made the statement while addressing First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood on Thursday.

The First Minister was asked by Anas Sarwar as to whether she accepted decisions made by the Scottish Government were “unlawful, unreasonable, irrational and cost lives” in the wake of a ruling in the High Court in England.

Judges ruled that the UK Government’s policy on discharging untested patients into care homes south of the border were unlawful.

Ms Sturgeon replied: “No, I don’t accept that, although these are matters now, rightly and properly, that will be scrutinised by the public inquiry that is under way in Scotland and, of course, the parallel public inquiry that will take place into these matters UK-wide.”

She told Mr Sarwar that the guidance issued in Scotland was “broadly similar” to that in place in England, but was not “identical”.

The Scottish Labour leader told the First Minister that her rejection of acceptance was an “extraordinary and unthinkable answer”, going on to list guidance and advice from experts in the run-up to the introduction of a nationwide lockdown at the end of March 2020.

He said the then health secretary, “as late as April 17”, was continuing to say there was “still not a strong case to test patients before discharge”.

Mr Sarwar added: “By the time Government changed guidance on April 21, nearly 3,000 untested people and 75 known positive cases had already been transferred into Scotland’s care homes.

“Does the First Minister accept, in the words of the families affected and impacted, that this was a shameful, unforgiveable, criminal act that cost lives in Scotland?”

Ms Sturgeon reiterated that the guidance on care homes in Scotland were “broadly similar” to that of England’s, and highlighted that asymptomatic transmission was being acknowledged despite “mixed opinion” from the public.

Public Health Scotland, she said, found there was “no clear statistical evidence” that hospital discharges were associated with outbreaks in care homes north of the border, and that it was, in fact, care home sizes that had stronger links.

The First Minister told MSPs that the consequences of the pandemic were “embedded in my soul”, adding: “That does not mean my decisions and my actions and those of my Government should in any way not be subject to scrutiny.”

Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, told Holyrood’s Covid-19 Recovery Committee on Thursday that the Scottish Government will “consider carefully” the High Court ruling.

Mr Swinney said that Lady Poole’s Scottish Covid inquiry would examine the topic, and expressed “deep regret and sympathy” to everyone who had lost a loved one in a care home.

He said the judgment reflected circumstances in England and was “not directly comparable to the situation in Scotland”, but added: “We will, of course, consider carefully the issues that are raised by the judgment and beyond what I’ve said already, that will be the subject of further consideration.”

The remit of Lady Poole’s inquiry has an “explicit provision” to examine care homes, he said.