Care homes afflicted by Covid-19 are being hit with a three patient limit for testing.
The refusal to keep tabs on the status of care home residents means those with coronavirus cannot be separated from those who do not - leading to fears over the loss of many more lives.
The revelation casts grave doubt on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s pledge at the daily briefing on Monday to produce “robust and reliable” data on the numbers of people catching the virus among Scotland’s 33,000 nursing home population.
The reality is that any data on numbers of new infections and the death rate among old people who catch Covid-19 will be guesswork.
One concerned son was told by the Ancaster House care home in Crieff, Perthshire, that testing had stopped after three positive tests, on the advice of Health Protection Scotland and Public Health England.
He said: “I was told my mother appears to be ok for now but they wouldn’t be testing her even if she displays symptoms. She has been placed at the lowest priority for testing despite being in the most vulnerable group.
“It seems ludicrous that there is no effort made to separate healthy from ill people, other than to somehow isolate the diagnosed ones within each care home.
“The Government is basically saying my mother has to take her chances where she is. It strikes me as very callous to say that old people have to stay put when we know for sure there is a deadly virus, that may well kill them, coursing through the place they call home.
“The most vulnerable group in society have been herded into homes up and down the UK and that’s their final destination, so once the home gets the virus, their chances of dying go through the roof.
“There are empty hotels all over the place but we’re being told that it’s impractical to take our loved ones somewhere safe”.
He added: “We have taken a decision to basically crash our economy to save as many vulnerable people as possible but when it comes to nursing homes that thinking and philosophy runs out of gas.
“We are pulling the plug on people’s lives by making no effort to identify who is virus free and taking them out of danger.”
Health guidelines passed on to nursing homes appears to be based on the futility of trying to take people out of nursing homes.
When asked to explain the strategy, Tayside Health said it is following clear guidelines set down by Public Health England and Health Protection Scotland.
A spokesman said there is “little scope” to move elderly people, adding that “the logistics involved in moving residents outwith their usual environment would require major upheaval.”
Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Monica Lennon said the health body’s response shows that the most vulnerable people are now being treated with the lowest priority.
She said: “Coronavirus testing is being rationed on a priority basis and care home residents appear to be low priority.
“Frontline care workers are going to extraordinary lengths to keep people safe, with some even moving in to isolate alongside vulnerable residents.
“It’s worrying that some health boards believe little can be done to stop the spread if the virus gets into a care home.
“Efforts to stop the virus from entering and spreading within cares homes must be redoubled in order to protect the lives of residents and care workers.”
Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said testing should underpin any strategy to tackle coronavirus.
He said: “You can isolate people quite well by keeping them in their rooms if you know they have the virus so stopping testing doesn’t make any sense.
“You could then take extra precautions to contain it. I’d be very interested to know if ministers have produced the guidance on three tests or whether they did so themselves.
“I’m concerned by this development and I think we should be putting in protocols to test people and stop the virus spreading through the care home populations, particularly when there are staff moving between care homes.
“I’ve raised this with Jeane Freeman, that PPE and testing should have been given to care homes.”
On Sunday Jeane Freeman said there were cases of Covid.19 in 406 Scottish care homes, 37 per cent of the total number of care homes in Scotland.
“We’re looking to ensure the information on the number of cases from that number of care homes is as robust as we can possibly make it, as accurate as we can be sure of, before we release that later this week.”
But she amended the 406 “cases” to 406 deaths in a radio interview on Monday morning.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s told the nation on Monday that all efforts were being made by the Care Inspectorate to produce “reliable and robust” figures on care home cases by the time official numbers are released tomorrow.
In the past few days the Care Inspectorate regulator has been under intense pressure to shed light on the true damage of the virus in care homes. Officials had fobbed off journalists by advising them to submit Freedom of Information requests, meaning delays of up to 100 days.
Staff have complained about lack of PPE and many agency workers are thought to have taken the virus from one care home to another owing to their changing shift patterns.
Several UK care homes have suffered deadly outbreaks, including Burlington Court in Cranhill, Glasgow, where 16 people are thought to have died, and Castle View in Dumbarton, where eight lives were lost.
More than 31,114 tests had been carried out across Scotland by Easter Sunday.
No-one at Ancaster House wished to comment.
