NICOLA Sturgeon must take responsibility for the fatal  blunder which saw infected hospital patients moved into care homes at the start of the Covid pandemic, opposition leaders have said.

The First Minister’s role in the decision to move 1,300 untested patients into care homes came under scrutiny after Jeane Freeman last night admitted it was a “mistake”.

The Health Secretary, who is stepping down in May with a £44,000 golden goodbye, told the BBC the Scottish Government failed to ensure the transfers were safe, and had failed to understand the social care sector.

“We didn’t take the right precautions to make sure that older people leaving hospital going into care homes were as safe as they could be and that was a mistake,” she said.

The exodus of delayed discharge patients from hospitals in order to free up beds for expected Covid cases is blamed for spreading the virus into care homes.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: "It’s an unforgivable decision and someone has to take responsibility. The buck stops with the First Minister.

"She has some serious questions to answer on this.”

A third of Scotland’s 10,000 confirmed or suspected Covid deaths have been in care homes. 

Responding to the admission from Ms Freeman, Ms Sturgeon said in an interview with LBC today: "We were faced, just over a year ago, with a global pandemic of a new virus that we knew very little about.

"We took decisions that we thought were best, in good faith and based on evidence we had.

"As we have learned more about this virus, if we could turn back the clock there are undoubtedly things we would do differently.

"I think it's really important for public confidence, for accountability, for learning lessons for the future that politicians are open to that. That is what I have sought to do.

"It's really important, given the magnitude of what we face, that politicians don't dig their heels in and refuse to accept that they might have got something wrong."

Commenting before election campaigning was suspended after the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, Mr Sarwar said the First Minister had to take responsibility for her part in what had been a “catastrophic error”. 

He said: “Frankly, it makes me angry. Because it’s commonsense. 

“It’s basic commonsense that you do not send Covid positive patients into a care home where you are housing the people most  vulnerable to the virus.

“We have the devastating result of that where we have the second highest care home death rate anywhere in Europe.

“It is a catastrophic error and someone needs to take responsibility for it. An apology should be forthcoming, abut an apology is not enough.

“People have lost loved ones. That was a decision that cost lives. It’s unforgivable.”

He went on: “I don’t know whether Jeane has been put up as the fall person because they know Jeane is retiring.

"The reality is that these decisions were being fronted and taken by the First Minister. She was in full knowledge of these decisions.

“These decisions will have had her approval. They were flagged to her repeatedly in parliament, and mistakes continued to be made.

“I don’t think the Government should be hiding behind Jeane Freeman, because it’s convenient that she happens to be retiring. 

“I think there are serious questions for Nicla Sturgeon about this and serious questions for the Scottish Government. 

“It’s an unforgivable decision and someone has to take responsibility for that. The buck stops with the First Minister. So she has some serious questions to answer on this.”

He said the public inquiry Ms Sturgeon has said will start later this year should get underway as soon as possible, and study the chain of decisions involved.

“There was government oversight of this and we need to find out who knew what and when.”

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross added: “For almost a year, grieving families have been left without answers on how their loved ones were put at risk.

“The public deserve upfront honesty when a grave mistake like this is made. Instead, the SNP hid their errors, tried to spin and manipulate a report on care home deaths, and they’ve kept everyone in the dark about what really happened.

“This admission raises serious questions for Nicola Sturgeon about what she knew and when about the transfer of Covid-positive patients to care homes, where so many vulnerable people ultimately lost their lives.

“Jeane Freeman has indicated the SNP Government were at fault, which confirms the need for an urgent public inquiry but also raises the possibility of legal action from families.

“We are only just starting to get answers when the health secretary has one foot out the door, which leaves an obvious question – why are we only finding out about this now?”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie reiterated calls for a public inquiry and said he was "astonished" to learn at the time hospitals didn't check for the virus. 

He said: "When I hear the acknowledgement at last from a Scottish Government minister that serious mistakes were made in the admissions to care homes, I just think of the thousands of people who have lost their lives and the thousands who have had their lives torn apart as a result of this."

"I think a lot of families will be upset it has taken this long for them to acknowledge the serious mistakes."