Jackie Baillie has demanded Nicola Sturgeon faces up to the unlawful, unreasonable and irrational decisions her Government made by discharging patients from hospital to care homes at the height of the pandemic which cost lives.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions this week following a ruling in England that the discharge of untested patients was unlawful prompting the opportunity for those in Scotland who lost loved ones to launch legal action against the Scottish Government.

The Party, of which Ms Baillie is Deputy Leader, argue that families shouldn’t have to go through a long and emotionally draining legal process to be afforded an admission from Nicola Sturgeon of her Government’s mistakes.

West Dunbartonshire care homes were among the worst affected by Covid. As at May last year, there were 16 Covid-related deaths at Castle View and Crosslet House and Balquhidder lost 11 residents each to Covid. The numbers may well have increased since however haven’t been made publicly available.

Public Health Scotland data also previously showed that untested patients had been sent to local facilities throughout spring 2020 including seven untested patients discharged to HC-One’s Castle View care home at the height of the pandemic.

Dumbarton constituency MSP and Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson, Jackie Baillie said: “It is extremely disappointing that despite this landmark ruling in England, Nicola Sturgeon is failing to admit there were unlawful mistakes made by her government.

“They had plenty of information about this virus at their disposal but they chose to send people either untested or who tested positive for Covid to care homes where the virus took hold and, in some cases, caused multiple fatalities.

“As early as the 4^th of February 2020, Scottish Government advisers were suggesting that asymptomatic transmission was a possibility.

“Yet by the 26^th of March their guidance still said people being discharged from hospital did not routinely need confirmation of a negative Covid test.

“And as late as the 17^th of April, the Health Secretary was saying there was not a strong case to test patients before discharge – despite testing guidelines in England changing on the 15^th of April.

“Shockingly, by the time the Scottish Government changed their guidelines on the 21^st of April, nearly 3,000 untested people and 75 known positive cases had already been transferred into care homes across Scotland, including in West Dunbartonshire and Helensburgh and Lomond.

“This was a shameful, unforgivable, criminal act that cost lives and those are the words of the families affected.

“They have been through the heartbreak of losing a loved one and many of them were unable to be with them in their final moments due to stringent restrictions on visiting being in place to prevent the spread of Covid.

“It would be shameful to force those families to relive that heartache all over again, being dragged through the courts with the emotional toll that comes with it, having to spend thousands of pounds in order to get Nicola Sturgeon to admit the truth.

“I demand that she accepts her Government’s actions were unlawful, unreasonable, irrational and cost lives to spare these families further agony.”