Chamber and committees

Mr Swinney, you have constantly talked about the importance of acting proportionately and appropriately when introducing measures to mitigate the spread of the virus, but I am not convinced that the announcements that we have had are appropriate to the scale of the problems that we face. You do not have to be an expert to be really worried if you have looked at the evidence on the spread of the latest variant. Professor Leitch mentioned that some people say that omicron is less of a health risk, but the evidence that is coming from Denmark, for example, is that hospitalisations are running much higher.

When I heard the First Minister’s statement on Tuesday, I was surprised that it did not go further. You mentioned pantomimes. I understand your point, but there is a big difference between going to a pantomime and going to a venue where alcohol is consumed quickly and where people are not socially distancing and—especially at this time of year—are dancing and cuddling up. There are real risks there, are there not? Do you believe that you are acting proportionately as regards the level of risk? Will the failure to act now not mean that there is a greater chance of us having to move to a lockdown as we go into the new year?

It is important that the committee is able not just to highlight all the concern and misinformation that the anti-vaxxers are creating but to put forward some positive ideas. Do we need more resources for, say, community organisations? Perhaps María José Pavez Larrea can answer that.

Dr Williamson, could you give us your view?

Is there not a capacity problem? Politicians are telling us that it will be a full task to deliver the booster to all over-40s by the end of January. We see more and more young people coming on, so decisions need to be made there. Do you believe that there is capacity to do all that and manage the health service through what is going to be a very difficult few months?

Picking up on Brian Whittle’s point, I think that we know that our health service is overrun, with people struggling to get GP appointments, and the ability to extend the health service into communities is limited. However, it has been suggested that as long as there was a doctor or nurse overseeing things more people could be trained in giving vaccinations, and local organisations could be supported to deliver them, too. Should we engage and involve the local community not just in encouraging people to get vaccinated but in delivering vaccinations?

I cannot really see anyone else. [Interruption.] Oh, I can now. Perhaps we can start with Magda Czarnecka.

With regard to what we have just heard, it would be good for us to talk to Dr Williamson and Dr Lunan about how GP services are addressed. The committee has previously discussed issues such as the Nuka model, for example. We can perhaps come back to that.

I have another question that is specifically for the two GPs. Is it practical to say that we should put in place training to support local people from hard-to-reach communities to work in organisations, with the correct supervision, to deliver this programme? Due to the urgency that we face with this latest variant—I think that we are in for a difficult few months—there is a need to get as many people vaccinated as possible. I ask Dr Lunan to answer that first, if her sound is working again.

There is a lot that we do not know about the latest variant. What we seem to know, based on the evidence that is coming out of South Africa, is that it spreads quickly, which is a massive worry to scientists. The evidence suggests that it can spread much more than the delta variant, which was bad enough.

Given that fact and the fact that people are being turned away when they go for their booster jag because the capacity does not exist, do you agree that the Government needs to look at what is in place in each health board area and see what needs to be put in place? The other day, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care was on the radio saying that there would not be enough staff to increase the capacity, because we cannot bring in staff from other parts of the national health service. What else needs to be done? What other professions can be quickly trained to provide the capacity? Based on the evidence that we have seen to date, we need mass vaccination to happen as quickly as possible.

Thank you. Those points are important in looking at the wider spread.

I have a quick question for Michael Clancy about the relevance of the 2008 act. There is consensus that it would not be suitable for the current Covid pandemic. Is the act too widely drawn? Do we need to revisit it at some point?

I want to pick up on something that Sandra MacLeod said. I was interested to hear what Aberdeen city health and social care partnership is doing to promote the grant. It would be good if you could send that information to the committee. Does any member of the panel think that there is a general issue about promotion? Should the Government and people on the ground do more to promote the fact that people can get support if they are struggling?