Law firms are urging Scottish ministers to set up a compensation scheme for bereaved families who lost loved ones in care homes due to Covid-19 after Holyrood admitted mistakes, according to newspaper reports.
The Times reported that Thompsons Solicitors, which is representing more than 100 families, is calling for a scheme similar to that for miners with industrial diseases.
The newspaper also said Glasgow-based PBW Law has written to Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf seeking payouts for bereaved relatives.
In addition, PBW Law is said to have written to lord advocate - the chief legal officer of the Scottish government – calling for a group fatal accident inquiry into care home deaths.
Public Health Scotland said last month that it could not rule out a link between discharges of hospital patients and outbreaks in care homes.
Data published by the Care Inspectorate show one in every ten care home residents in Scotland died from Covid-19 last year.
In a related development, Public Health England has identified 97 care home outbreaks involving 804 care home residents and 286 deaths due to “hospital-associated seeding” where patients were discharged into care homes.
The report, which looked at those confirmed with a positive Covid test, found the majority of the hospital-seeded care home outbreaks identified were in March to mid-April 2020, prior to the introduction of mandatory testing of discharged patients.
