THE number of people who have died of Covid-19 in care homes is to be published for the first time on Wednesday, the Health Secretary has said as she stated that 37% of all homes in the country had been hit by the virus.

Jeane Freeman was under pressure to release the figure after a series of centres reported the deaths of multiple residents last week and sector body Scottish Care gave an estimate to The National that more than 400 homes were affected.

Speaking at yesterday’s press briefing on the pandemic, she said: “The next NRS [National Registers of Scotland] report to be published this week will break down those figures as to whether an individual has died in hospital, a care home at home or in another location.”

The Care Inspectorate has been compiling figures on the number of people in care homes who have died from Covid-19 or when the virus has been a contributory factor but have to date refused to publish the data.

READ MORE: Jeane Freeman: 37 per cent of Scots care homes reporting coronavirus

Freeman added: “We’ve always said we are determined to make sure that the information we have is shared with you as transparently as we possibly can. But it’s really important that we’re confident about the robustness and accuracy of that information.”

Giving her update on the pandemic Freeman said 566 people had now died in hospital in Scotland from the virus, with 24 further fatalities in the last 24 hours. The latest figures for Scotland, which will be revised after further cases are confirmed following the Easter bank holiday, showed a total of 5912 positive cases, up by 322 from Saturday, and 221 people in intensive care, up by nine.

Freeman also revealed that social care staff will receive a pay rise to equal the real living wage in Scotland. It is equal to an immediate 3.3% pay increase, backdated from April 1, to at least £9.60 an hour.

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She said: “Scotland’s dedicated social care workers are on the frontline of our national pandemic response. Their work is always hugely valued, and never more so than now.”

The pay increase applies for all hours worked, including overnight stays and hours worked by personal assistants.

The Scottish Government is also to provide funding to third sector and independent providers specifically to ensure staff receive sick pay if they are off work ill or because they are self-isolating.

Freeman was also asked about new guidance from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) which asked members to refuse to treat patients as a last resort if adequate protection was not provided. The move followed criticism of the Scottish and UK Governments for the amount of personal protective equipment available for frontline workers.

The Health Secretary said no nursing staff are refusing to work with Covid-19 patients across Scotland as a result of a lack of PPE.

She said: “We do not have nursing staff, at this point, refusing to treat coronavirus patients and as I said, every effort is going into making sure that they are never placed in a situation where they do not have the PPE they need.

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“As a former nurse myself, I know that that would be the last decision that you would ever want to take.

“So our job is to make sure that they’re never in that situation, and that we work really hard every single day to ensure that we secure the supply of PPE that our nursing staff, our medics and our care-at-home and social care staff need to do the job that is so important and that they’re doing right now.”

She added: “Our focus is to make sure that no one in our health or social care professions are ever put in a place where that is the kind of decision that they consider taking.

“It matters very much to me that our health and social care workforce have all the items that they need.”

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Scotland could diverge from rest of UK’s plan

The Scottish Government’s figures revealed that 31,114 tests have now been carried out across Scotland, which is an additional 1211 tests in the past 24 hours.

A total of 5912 people have tested positive for the virus.

Last week, medics in Scotland signed a letter to the Scottish Government to express concerns over PPE.

It claimed frontline staff are risking their lives dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak because they do not have suitable aprons, masks and eyewear.

The RCN in new guidance told nurses: “Ultimately, if you have exhausted all other measures to reduce the risk and you have not been given appropriate PPE... you are entitled to refuse to work.”

Freeman was also asked for the number of deaths in Scotland of NHS workers and social care staff from Covid-19, but she was currently unable to reveal those figures.

On the pay rise for care staff, Andy Kerr, of the Fair Work in Social Care Group, said: “This announcement will provide social care providers the confidence, in these very challenging times, to ensure a very welcome and deserved pay uplift for social care staff working in Scotland.”

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