DoH guidance says patients would not need to take a test after their isolation period
A plan to discharge Covid patients from hospitals into care homes without tests has been branded “madness” by care home providers who warned the move risks a repeat of last spring’s crisis which was partly fuelled by pressure to relieve the NHS.
The Department of Health and Social Care issued guidance that Covid positive patients in England who have been in isolation in hospital for 14 days “are not considered to pose an infection risk” and do not have to be retested. If they are not showing new symptoms or have had fresh exposure to the virus they can be moved directly to care homes from hospital.
