BBC Wales Investigates discovered that at the start of the outbreak, the Welsh Government issued guidance saying hospitals could discharge Covid-19 patients to care homes and that patients without common symptoms did not have to be tested before they were moved. Nigel Clark, owner of a care home in Port Talbot, was interviewed, who said he felt pressured to take patients from hospitals despite them not being tested for coronavirus. “She (a health board representative) said she would go to the Care Inspectorate to ensure I had to start taking people into this care home if they had tests or not because I had to help Neath Port Talbot to release beds,” he said.Swansea Bay University Health Board said it could never condone the behaviour Mr Clark alleges, and that all patients are now tested before being sent into care homes.Therefore, based on Welsh Government figures, 82% of all residents discharged from Welsh hospitals at the start of the outbreak were sent to care homes without a Covid-19 test.
Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-53138843
