Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has supported Neighbourhood Watch Scotland (NWS) with grant funding since it was established in 2008, and with a grant of £115,000 this year which has helped to establish 42 new watches since mid-March.

This financial year, NWS has sent out 104 COVID-19 related alerts which have included information in relation to: community support and advice; specific scams; as well as reassurance messages reaching over 1.8 million individuals across Scotland.

Official delayed Discharge statistics, published by Public Health Scotland, show that during March and April over 3,500 delayed patients were discharged to the community, with 60% discharged home and 40% discharged to a care home.

Public Health Scotland define a delayed discharge as a hospital inpatient who is clinically ready for discharge from inpatient hospital care and who continues to occupy a hospital bed beyond the ready for discharge date. A number of these delays have extremely complex needs that require specialist care within the community, or are waiting for a Guardian to be appointed through the courts before the patient can be legally moved. At the April census these delays accounted for 34% of the total delays.

Delayed discharge management information is also now being published regularly on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-data-for-scotland/ .

The Covid-19 Community Pathway was established to alleviate the pressure on GP practices by providing a safe pathway for patients who are experiencing Covid-19 symptoms. Patients are triaged through the CoVID Hub and are seen at a Community Assessment Centre if this is deemed the most appropriate clinical outcome. From 1 June, the Community Assessment Centres will also test patients who are assessed as being symptomatic. There are currently 44 Community Assessment Centres operational across Scotland. The numbers of these Centres will change over time as the Health Boards review their activity level – this is a local decision for NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government does not currently hold data on numbers of tests carried out at each centre.

The list of assessment centres active as at 16 June 2020 is as follows:

1. The Lister Centre, Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock

2. Day Hospital, Border General Hospital, Melrose

3. Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, Dumfries

4. Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy

5. Stirling Community Hospital, Stirling

6. Aberdeen Community Health and Care Village, Aberdeen

7. The Oaks, Elgin, Moray

8. Woodside Health Centre, Barr St, Glasgow

9. Clydebank Health Care Centre, Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire.

10. Greenock Health Centre, Greenock, Inverclyde.

11. Renton, West Dumbartonshire

12. Linwood, Renfrewshire

13. MacKenzie Centre, Inverness

14. Robertson Centre, Alness,

15. Camaghael Health Centre, Fort William

16. Portree Hospital, Portree

17. Campbeltown Hospital, Campbeltown

18. Cowal Hospital, Dunoon

19. Islay Hospital, Islay

20. Jura Integrated Care Centre, Isle of Jura

21. Lorn and the Islands District General Hospital, Oban

22. Mid Argyll Hospital, Lochgilphead

23. Tarbert GP Surgery, Tarbert

24. Mull and Iona Community Hospital, Isle of Mull

25. Rothesay Victoria Hospital, Rothesay.

26. Helensburgh Victoria Integrated Care Centre, Helensburgh

27. The Old Health Centre, Wick

28. Migdale Hospital, Bonar Bridge

29. Airdrie Community Health Centre, Airdrie

30. Douglas Street Community Health Centre, Hamilton

31. Royal Victoria Building, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh

32. Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh,

33. OPD1 St John’s Hospital, Livingston

34. Bonnyrigg Health Centre, Bonnyrigg

35. Astley Ainsley Hospital, Edinburgh

36. Health Centre, Kirkwall, Orkney

37. Lerwick Health Centre, Lerwick

38. Kings Cross Hospital, Dundee

39. Perth Assessment Centre, Perth Royal Infirmary, Perth

40. Arbroath Infirmary, Arbroath

41. Links Health Centre, Montrose

42. Dental Centre, Stornoway

43. Uist and Barra Hospital, Isle of Benbecula

44. Castlebay Community School, Barra

Scottish Government officials have had and continue to have discussions with the other UK administrations on border health measures. These will be reviewed regularly and are informed by the best available scientific and medical advice.

The Scottish Government announced lockdown measures on 23 March 2020. From 25 March to 23 June 2020, there were 1,060 compassionate Level 1 interactions which resulted in referrals to DBI Level 2 service providers. This includes 41 referrals from the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub which became an additional referral route from 13 May 2020 for the Health Board areas of Lanarkshire, Scottish Borders, Grampian, and Highlands, and was extended to a national pathway across all Health Boards in Scotland on 8 June 2020. However, it is not currently possible to determine how many of those referred have fully engaged with DBI, as the data is not yet available.

The Scottish Government has provided additional funding to support NHS dentistry, as the majority of practices see mainly NHS patients.

Whilst we do have dental practices in Scotland that see only or mainly private patients, the significant expansion in NHS dental provision in recent years means that the majority of practices see mainly NHS patients.

For those practices that do provide some private dentistry, the Scottish Government has already confirmed NHS financial support should not be a bar for practices to claim from other funding sources more appropriately aligned with private dentistry.

On 18 March 2020 I announced a package of support worth £2.3 billion to limit the impact of COVID-19 on the business community. The new measures will be delivered during the 2020-21 financial year for non-domestic properties only. They include a 1.6% rates relief for all the properties across Scotland, effectively reversing the planned below inflation uplift in the poundage for 2020-21.

On 26 May I announced that we will extend eligibility for the current small business grants to small businesses that occupy shared premises where the landlord is the ratepayer. Eligible small businesses could apply for a £10,000 small business grant, administered by local authorities from 8 June.

Private dentists as self-employed individuals are subject to the same eligibility criteria to the support schemes put in place as any other self-employed individual in Scotland. They could have claimed grants under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if they are paid via PAYE. There is other support available including deferring VAT and deferring self-assessment payments on account, as well as the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.

The COVID-19 data and trend charts for Scotland are published daily and provide a range of information, including the number of care homes notifying cases of COVID-19 and the number of suspected cases of COVID-19 in care homes. The data also includes the daily number of people in hospital with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 but does not include details on how many of these are care home residents or staff.

The cumulative number of people tested and the number of positive and negative tests is also provided.

Weekly data on COVID-19 in adult care homes in Scotland is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-additional-data-about-adult-care-homes-in-scotland/

You can find figures updated every day at 2pm (including care home data) here: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Daily data for Scotland .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29881 on 26 June 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx . .

We are continuing to work closely with Board Chief Executives and Directors of Public Health to ensure access to resources to increase testing capacity including Mobile Testing Units and the UK Government Social Care Testing Portal.

The Social Care Testing Portal went live on Monday 8 June and all Health Boards are now reporting on a weekly basis on the testing of staff and residents in care homes and providing data on actual testing that week and testing plans for following week.

We are publishing weekly data that includes what Health Boards have done in terms of numbers of staff and residents tested in Covid and non-Covid homes in the previous week and through what route, for example the Social Care Testing Portal.

Weekly data on COVID-19 in adult care homes in Scotland is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-additional-data-about-adult-care-homes-in-scotland/ .

We have not undertaken work to establish the costs associated with a national care service.