COVID-19 patients discharged from hospital: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
1. You publish the daily Hospital & ICU admissions in relation to Covid, however you do not publish the daily discharge of patients information. I would like to see the figures for this and for them to be published for greater transparency going forward.
2. How can you hope to legally enforce laws and charge members of the public with fines for breaking said laws, when the First Minister herself broke the law and nothing happened apart from her apology? This only creates distrust in, and the hypocrisy of, those that are imposing these draconian measures on the public and highlights that we are NOT all equal.
3. Will the FM be charged for breaking the law? if not, then it only stands to reason that any member of the public can apologise for a mistake and expect not to be charged, otherwise the public are being discriminated against.
Response
I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested and I have answered your questions below.
The time series of the cumulative number of inpatients discharged with confirmed COVID-19 is attached.
Thanks for your feedback on this. The figures and analysis presented on our daily data page continue to evolve over time to ensure the most relevant information is included and the needs of stakeholders are met. We continue to work with analytical partners in Public Health Scotland (PHS) to understand the impact of COVID-19 on Scotland’s population. The discharge figures we collect are a cumulative total rather than the number discharged each day. There can sometimes be revisions to data submitted by NHS Boards which is why a cumulative total rather than daily figure is reported.
Enforcement of the coronavirus regulations is an operational matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland. As with all policing matters, the Chief Constable is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority for this rather than to Scottish Ministers directly, in order to ensure public confidence that the police act independently, free from unwarranted Ministerial interference.
The Scottish Government does not comment on individual incidents. However, Police Scotland have indicated that they would not be taking any action in this particular case, recognising that the First Minister had apologised and had acknowledged the inadvertent breach of the regulations.
Police Scotland have been clear that they will continue to operate under the principle of policing by consent and follow the 4Es approach whereby they will Engage, Explain, Encourage and only then, if faced with wilful and blatant non-compliance, Enforce the coronavirus regulations by issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice as a last resort to protect public health.
As well as supporting people to follow the regulations, police officers are encouraging them to take personal responsibility for their actions.
As noted, enforcement of the coronavirus regulations is an operational matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.
Any decision to prosecute individuals is a matter for the independent Procurator Fiscal Service.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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