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THREAD 1-8
1/ Moments before Prince Philip's death was announced, BBC Scotland broadcast a news bulletin in which Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross attacked Nicola Sturgeon for allowing hospital discharges into care homes at the start of the pandemic.
1/ Moments before Prince Philip's death was announced, BBC Scotland broadcast a news bulletin in which Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross attacked Nicola Sturgeon for allowing hospital discharges into care homes at the start of the pandemic.
2/ The attack was halted in its tracks by the Royal death, but it will re-emerge once the official mourning period ends and will dominate BBC Scotland news. However, reporters are unlikely to mention the fact that Ross's own party demanded the discharges.
3/ The video is from March 2020. It shows Labour and Tory MSPs demanding elderly patients be discharged from Scottish hospitals to free up beds. The pandemic was in its infancy and there were concerns that Scotland might not have enough hospital beds to cope with Covid victims.
4/ But it wasn't just Unionist MSPs at Holyrood who thought discharging elderly patients into care homes was perfectly acceptable in the early days of the pandemic. The Tory Govt at Westminster believed it was safe and issued guidelines to care homes saying so.
5/ Indeed, in November 2020, Tory minister Michael Gove confirmed that patients with Covid could *still* be discharged into a care home in England. Gove insisted discharges hadn't caused Covid in care homes but rather staff were the cause.
6/ It wasn't just the UK Tory Govt that continued to discharge Covid +ve patients into care homes. On December 15th, 2020 the Labour run Welsh Govt also announced it too would allow Covid +ve patients to be discharged from hospital into care homes.
7/ So, when you hear Douglas Ross attacking Nicola Sturgeon for allowing discharges into care homes in the *early* days of the pandemic, remember his own party demanded it at Holyrood, insisted it was safe in England and *continued* with the practice in England right into 2021.
8/ And when BBC Scotland headlines Douglas Ross's attack on Nicola Sturgeon, but fails to mention any of the facts we've highlighted in this tweet, then ask yourself why it failed to mention them. Also watch out for guest pundits promoting Ross's attack.
