Releasing people from hospital into care homes: FOI release

Information requested

What information did the First Minister have to base those decisions to: release people from hospital and promote an experimental gene therapy medical treatment as a safe vaccince? 

On 18 May I sought clarification on “the details of the specific information you are seeking in relation to the release of people from hospitals to care homes” and asked “is your enquiry relating to information we hold regarding the testing of people before they were released from hospitals and into care homes, or is it another particular area?”

On 18 May you replied with:

"1. Set out the facts which led to the First Minister making the decision to the release any person from hospital into a care home. between January 01-01-2020 til 31-05-2020.

2. What evidence or other material was those findings based on?

3. And the reason for this decision.

4. Set out the facts which led to the First Minister making the decision to offer COVID19 vaccine to the people of Scotland between December 01-12-2020 til 31-12-2021 when Pfizer's latest release of documents from their initial study in December 2020 shows death and harm to the trialists.

5. What evidence or other material was those findings based on?

6. And the reason for this decision."

Response

Questions 1, 2 & 3

Scottish Ministers do not make decisions on when and where to discharge people from hospital to another setting, whether a care home or other setting. The decision that someone is clinically ready for discharge from hospital is and always was rightly made by doctors and clinical staff, who know their patients, have a full picture of their medical needs and are therefore most qualified to look after their best interests. It has never been for the Scottish Government to decide on individual cases.

Such decisions regarding where a patient will be discharged to are always made by a multi-disciplinary team of social workers and health and social care professionals who assess an individual's long-term
needs and agree with the patient, family or carers how best to meet those needs. There are a range of factors that clinicians will consider for patients transferring to care homes, including patient's clinical readiness for discharge and the best setting for meeting the individual’s needs. Again, the Scottish Government is not involved in these decisions about discharge of individuals.

In view of the above information, this is a formal notice under 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested based on your initial request and subsequent follow-up clarification.

Questions 4, 5 & 6

The Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is monitoring the effectiveness of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines in the real world as set out in the COVID-19 vaccine surveillance strategy and has published reports on the impact of the COVID-19 vaccines on:

• symptomatic disease
• hospitalisation
• death
• infection (symptomatic or asymptomatic)

Further information on vaccine efficacy and effectiveness is available online at: Overview - COVID-19 vaccine information and resources - COVID-19 vaccinations - COVID-19 - Our areas of work - Public Health Scotland. Data on the real-world efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines can be found here: Monitoring reports of the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Scottish Government was, and continues to be, guided by advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation(JCVI) and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Published guidance for both can be viewed at the following links respectively:

Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
SHOW - SGHSC - Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.