Chamber and committees

Thank you, Michelle—that was helpful.

I turn to Jane Ormerod. Do you consider that enough is being done to encourage people with long Covid to seek help?

No. We have a little bit of time. I think that Michelle Powell Gonzalez wants to come in.

We have gone slightly over time.

This has been a very informative and engaging start to our inquiry. I thank all the witnesses for their time and evidence. We will continue to take evidence in February and March before we hear from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care at our 16 March meeting. If the witnesses would like to give any further evidence to the committee, they can do so in writing. The clerks will be happy to liaise with them about how to do that.

The committee’s next meeting will be on 23 February, when we will continue our inquiry by looking at therapy and rehabilitation.

Michelle, would you like to come in?

You need a clear pathway.

I bring in Sammie Mcfarland.

Alex Rowley has some questions.

Good morning, and welcome to the third meeting in 2023 of the COVID-19 Recovery Committee.

This morning, we will take evidence as part of our inquiry into long Covid. I welcome Rob Gowans, policy and public affairs manager at the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland; Ian Mullen, from Covid Action Scotland; Sammie Mcfarland, who is chief executive officer and founder of Long Covid Kids, who joins us online; Jane Ormerod, who is the chair of Long Covid Scotland; Stuart McIver, from Long Covid Scotland; and Michelle Powell Gonzalez, from the Long Covid Support Group: Scotland, who also joins us online. We have received apologies from Donna Convery of Long Covid Support Group: Scotland.

I thank the witnesses for giving us their time and for their written submissions. We estimate that the session will run until about 11 o’clock, and each member should have about 10 minutes to speak to the panel and ask their questions.

For witnesses who are attending remotely, if you would like to respond to any issue that is being discussed, please type R in the chat function, and we will try to bring you in. I am keen to ensure that everybody gets an opportunity to speak, so I apologise in advance for the fact that, if time runs on a bit too much, I might have to interrupt members or witnesses in the interests of brevity.

I invite the witnesses to introduce themselves briefly, starting with the witnesses who are joining us online.

Thank you. We turn to questions, and I will begin with the theme of public awareness of long Covid. The Scottish Government has committed to delivering a targeted long Covid awareness campaign, in conjunction with community pharmacies, but a lot of the submissions that we have received so far in our inquiry have highlighted that there is a low level of awareness of long Covid. What more could or should be done to raise public awareness and recognition of long Covid? Stuart, do you want to go first?

Thank you, Sammie. We move to questions from Murdo Fraser.

That concludes our consideration of that agenda item. I thank the Deputy First Minister and his supporting officials for their attendance this morning.

The committee’s next meeting will be on 26 January, when we will consider a draft report on our labour market inquiry.