More than 100 hospital patients were discharged to care homes in Gloucestershire without a Covid-19 test in the early weeks of the UK’s coronavirus outbreak.

A Freedom of Information request made to Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General hospitals, by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRs) reveals 111 patients were not tested on discharge to care homes between March 1 and April 15.

And of the 46 patients who were tested,  20 of them had Covid-19 at some point between that period before being discharged to care homes.

Until April 16, the Government guidance said testing was a requirement only if the patients being discharged were symptomatic.

The hospitals trust said it followed national guidance “at all times which reflected the science as it was understood at the time”.

It added that patients were only discharged “with the consent of the care home or community hospital”.

Just under half of coronavirus deaths in Gloucestershire have occurred in care homes (226), according to the latest Office of National Statistics and Care Quality Commission data from March up to July 3.

Gloucestershire County Council said on April 7 it was working with the local NHS to free up hospital beds by discharging patients who no longer needed them, partly into settings such as care homes.

Both the hospitals trust and the county council said they are not aware of any local care home outbreaks which were caused by the discharge of patients without a Covid-19 test.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock went on to say in May that the Government had thrown a “protective ring” around care homes “from the start”.

The NHS wrote to trusts on March 17 telling them to “urgently discharge all hospital inpatients who are medically fit to leave” to ensure enough hospital beds were available.

The official guidance said: “Negative tests are not required prior to transfers/admissions into the care home.”

The advice only changed on April 16, when the Government said trusts needed to test all patients before being discharged into care homes.

NHS figures show 25,060 patients were moved from hospitals to care homes between March 17 and April 16.

A spokesman for Gloucestershire hospitals trust said: “Covid-19 patients were only discharged into care homes with the consent and knowledge of the care home and where the care home was able to effectively isolate the patient and thus protect other residents and staff.”

A spokesman for Gloucestershire County Council said: “We are not aware, and without being able to rule out all other potential source of infection that may have been present at the time, it may never be possible to confirm specific causes.

“That is why the  work we continue to do with the NHS to support care homes during the Coronavirus emergency, providing extra PPE, infection control training and advice, as well as financial help, is so important.

“People were discharged from hospital only after a doctor decided they were medically fit, exactly the same as before Covid-19.

“The county council made sure the process that happened next took place more quickly, as part of our work to help protect the NHS and ensure those who needed ongoing care, got it.

“GCC received assurances that the way patients were discharged from hospital followed Public Health England advice at all times.”

A statement issued by the NHS in Gloucestershire and the county council’s adult social care department said:  “The health, wellbeing and safety of care home residents has always been at the heart of the county’s Covid-19 response.

“The health and care community in Gloucestershire has consistently worked in accordance with the most stringent interpretation of national Covid-19 Public Health policy.

“National guidance was published in mid-April and this included a requirement for services to screen all people being discharged from hospital to a care home for Covid-19 (regardless of symptoms).

“While the national guidance indicated that care homes could receive Covid-19 positive patients if the homes were confident they could isolate and care for them safely, Gloucestershire’s local guidance to providers went a step further with a decision that care homes would only receive patients from hospital that had tested negative for Covid-19.

“Since early March and prior to this national requirement for screening all patients being discharged to care homes, Gloucestershire was already testing patients in hospital suspected of having Covid-19, in line with existing guidance.

“In addition, in early April it had also been decided in Gloucestershire that all patients being discharged to a care home should have a Covid-19 swab taken 3 days before discharge if they met certain criteria relating to potential exposure or symptoms.”