Chamber and committees

The data and methodology used in Exercise Silver Swan was provided by Public Health England and adapted by Health Protection Scotland for use in Scotland. That health protection function has now been integrated into the new Special Health Board, Public Health Scotland. We do not have access to a full breakdown of data, and therefore will be unable to publish it in SPICe.

We continue to work closely with all parts of the UK to ensure we all benefit from mutual co-operation on procurement and distribution. The Scottish Government has its own supply, procurement and logistics arrangements in place working with manufacturers in Scotland and globally to ensure we have adequate supplies and this will continue, in the event of a second wave of COVID-19.

Through their commissioning arrangements, health and social care partnerships have well established relationships with independent and third sector providers, involving them in local contingency planning and response, as appropriate. Such providers should have robust business continuity plans.

To assist in planning for, and responding to Covid-19, Scottish Government and COSLA involve representatives of private and third sector care providers in a range of fora including weekly meetings of the National Contingency Planning Group.

Health and Social Care Partnerships developed local mobilisation plans in response to the COVID-19 emergency. These plans, which are generally aligned with emergency planning arrangements of local councils and NHS Boards, identify key risks and challenges posed by COVID, including those in the social care sector, and outline appropriate responses to ensure that vulnerable people are protected. An initial £50 million to help the social care sector deal with the financial implications of coronavirus (COVID-19) and linked to these plans was confirmed on 12 May.

I met with Donald Macaskill of Scottish Care on a number of occasions during the pandemic to understand the perspectives of independent providers and continues to hold regular discussions with him.

The Scottish Government has established a Care Home Rapid Action Group, which includes representation from COSLA and Scottish Care. This is a national group set up to monitor developments in the care home sector, reacting swiftly to developing issues and coordinating our wider package of support to the sector.

Scottish Government fund a consultant based in Scottish Care to assist initially in supporting care providers to develop their resilience in anticipation of EU exit and who is now actively involved in supporting the provision of PPE to the sector.

The principles of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 should be given effect to in any intervention in the affairs of an adult lacking capacity. One of these principles is that the views of interested parties should be taken account of when determining if an intervention is to be made and what intervention is to be made. This includes those who are acting as power of attorney.

Our Integrated Adult Policy on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) makes clear that if a patient does not have capacity to make a decision related to CPR, then the principles of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 apply. Where CPR might be successful in achieving sustainable life, a decision about whether the benefit of CPR would outweigh the harms and burdens for that patient must be discussed and agreed between that healthcare team and the patient's relevant others. Where there is a legally appointed proxy decision-maker (welfare attorney or welfare guardian) they must be involved in the decision-making process. Relevant information should also be shared with those close to the patient.

Our testing strategy is based on expert clinical and scientific advice, and it is kept under constant review. At this time, we are not offering testing to oil and gas workers who do not have symptoms.

Testing people who are not presenting with symptoms cannot indicate whether someone is incubating the disease, and may develop it later.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29470 on 10 June 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx '

The Scottish Government's testing strategy has from the outset been informed by the best available evidence for Scotland as advised by senior clinicians and public health experts. The First Minister announced on 18 May 2020 that the eligibility for testing was being widened so that everyone in Scotland aged 5 or over who has symptoms can now access testing.

Tests provide a point in time assessment of whether someone has the infection when the test was taken. It cannot indicate whether someone is incubating the disease, and therefore may go on to develop it after a test is undertaken. Current evidence suggests that widespread asymptomatic testing may be of limited utility in the wider population, and should be prioritised in contexts of high risk and complex community settings, such as care homes.

Scottish Government policy is consistent with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation that all suspected cases be tested for COVID-19 according to WHO case definitions and that, faced with community transmission over large areas of the country, prioritisation will be required to assure the highest public health impact of reducing transmission using available resources. The guidance is available here: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331509/WHO-COVID-19-lab_testing-2020.1-eng.pdf

From 27 May, the Care Inspectorate began reporting on deaths in care homes, as provided for under schedule 1, part 9 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No2) Act 2020.

In the week ending 31 May 2020, 213 care homes notified the Care Inspectorate of 289 deaths. This included a total of 76 suspected or confirmed cases attributable to Covid-19 across 44 services. Of those 44 services, 21 had at least one grade of weak or adequate at their last inspection.

On 10 April 2020 the Scottish Government's Chief Medical Officer, BMA and RCGP wrote to GP practices to provide advice and support on having anticipatory care planning conversations and to make clear that there is no requirement for health professionals to have a Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) discussion as part of this conversation, unless the patient wishes to discuss it or clinician feels strongly it is necessary to raise in conversation for the patient’s wellbeing.

Additionally, on 17 April 2020, a further joint letter from the Scottish Government’s Chief Medical Officer, BMA and RCGPs was sent to GPs to reinforce this message and set out how they could effectively support care homes during this difficult time.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. Information on the discharge destination of delayed patients was published for the first time as part of Public Health Scotland's April Delayed Discharge census. However, details on specific homes patients were discharges to does is not collected.