Chamber and committees

Individuals who are unable to leave their own homes will receive their vaccination at home. All Health Boards have included their housebound patients within their delivery models for each priority group.

The Scottish Government is working with the voluntary and third sector to set up a centralised volunteer coordination hub. This will make good use of the locally offered support, in particular for deployment at mass vaccination clinics, and to help people who need assistance to access local clinics.

The £4.25m the member refers to was additional funding allocated to ensure organisations could respond to changes in circumstance and increased demand for services caused by the pandemic, and covers the period to
‎ 30 September 2021. This payment was on top of the initial £1.5 million given to Scottish Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Scotland and ASSIST at the start of the first lockdown to help with rapid redesign of services.

At the start of the Covid pandemic, all organisations and projects currently being funded under the existing Equally Safe Violence Against Women and Girls, and Rape Crisis Specific funds were granted an extension on their funding until September 2021. In December 2020, the new Delivering Equally Safe (DES) Fund was opened for applications to sustainably cover work taking place 2021-2024, with up to £13m being available per annum. The new DES Fund will support frontline organisations to tackle violence against women and girls, as well as projects that broaden access to support survivors. The deadline for applications to this fund is
‎ 28 April 2021.

On 23 December the Health Secretary announced an expansion of community testing in areas across Scotland with a high prevalence of the virus. Increased testing in this way will help us find and isolate more cases, helping us to identify more cases of the virus and giving us all a better chance of stopping the virus from spreading.

The Scottish Government is working with each local authority on an expanded community testing plan appropriate for them. The advantage of Directors of Public Health and local authorities planning their own community testing is that they know their populations and can take a broader view of who should be targeted with asymptomatic testing, supported by local intelligence. People are invited to get tested, with or without symptoms.

Surveillance sequencing of positive COVID-19 samples is also taking place in Scotland. This is being used to identify and track potentially significant genetic changes that may affect how easily the virus is passed on and the severity of the symptoms it causes. It also allows us to target public health interventions to stop spread of new variants of potential concern and ensure that tests in use remain fit for purpose.

The Scottish Government will look carefully at the evidence and data on new variants and, acting on the advice of our senior clinicians and Public Health experts, will adapt our public health response as required.

Testing is only one measure of protection against COVID-19, the best way to stop the spread of the virus is to follow the public health advice set out in our FACTS campaign.

As announced by the First Minister on 2 nd February, we are continuing to expand testing already in place to find cases and interrupt chains of transmission. This includes:

• expanding routine testing for healthcare workers to cover patient facing primary care staff such as GPs, dentists, optometrists and pharmacists, as well as patient-facing staff who work in hospices,
• regular testing to support the return to schools and nurseries,
• workforce testing in certain work places where the risk of transmission is greater and which provide essential or critical services,
• offering testing to close contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID- 19, enabling Test and Protect teams to identify their contacts to track and break further chains of transmission.
• Expansion in targeted community testing in areas across Scotland with a high prevalence of the virus. The Scottish Government is working with each local authority on an expanded community testing plan appropriate for them. The advantage of Directors of Public Health and local authorities planning their own community testing is that they know their populations and can take a broader view of who should be targeted with asymptomatic testing, supported by local intelligence. People are invited to get tested, with or without symptoms.

There are currently more than 2,000 fully trained contact tracers within the Test and Protect system. Steps already taken by Health Boards and the National Contact Tracing Centre (NCTC) to boost capacity within the system, using a combination of bank and contracted resources, have allowed for continued provision of an effective service which meets performance targets, even at times of exceptional demand since the emergence of more transmissible variants of the virus.

In order to promote people’s ability to self-isolate when necessary, financial support is being significantly expanded to include all workers earning the Real Living Wage or less, as well as those in receipt of a council tax reduction because of low income. The £500 Self-Isolation Support Grant will also be extended to people who cannot work because someone they have caring responsibilities for is asked to self-isolate.

Surveillance for new variants is taking place in Scotland and is being used to identify and track potentially significant genetic changes that may affect how easily the virus is passed on and the severity of the symptoms it causes. It also allows us to target public health interventions to stop the spread of new variants of potential concern and ensure that tests in use remain fit for purpose. The Scottish Government will look carefully at the evidence and data on new variants and, acting on the advice of our senior clinicians and Public Health experts, will adapt our public health response as required.

The Scottish Government daily publishes the number of vaccination which are administered on its website:

Coronavirus (COVID-19): daily data for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

A further analysis of Covid-19 data is also published by the Public Health Scotland broken into doses, and age group.

COVID-19 statistical report 17 February 2021 - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org) .

Our approach to Covid-19 vaccination training builds on the well-established National Minimum Standards and Core Curriculum for Immunisation Training and is a person-centred approach.

Where an individual is returning to vaccinations after being inactive for a period of time, their training requirements will be informed by a short self-assessment. The appropriate training resources can then be accessed according to their individual training needs. Individuals with no experience as vaccinators will be required to undertake core vaccination training and will require clinical supervision when administering vaccine until confident and competent.

As well as undertaking vaccination training, returning staff will be subject to the recruitment and on-boarding procedures of their host Board. We have written to Boards requesting that they streamline induction and on-boarding of vaccinators so far as possible, including through the adoption of flexible approaches to the delivery of induction training and by allowing staff with prior experience the option to self-certify that they have completed generic training modules. We have also made clear that all possible steps should be taken to streamline the pre-employment check process. Arrangements are in place to expedite Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme checks for those involved in the programme.

Our approach to Covid-19 vaccination training builds on the well-established National Minimum Standards and Core Curriculum for Immunisation Training and is a person-centred approach.

For individuals who are experienced active vaccinators, training need only cover the specific characteristics of Covid-19 vaccinations. This is likely to take up to 3.5 hours followed by the completion of a short assessment involving a supervisor. Where an individual is returning to vaccinations after being inactive for a period of time, their training requirements will be informed by a short self-assessment. The appropriate training resources can then be accessed according to their individual training needs. Individuals with no experience as vaccinators will be required to undertake core vaccination training and will require clinical supervision when administering vaccine until confident and competent.

Our approach to Covid-19 vaccination training builds on the well-established National Minimum Standards and Core Curriculum for Immunisation Training.

All individuals participating in the vaccination programme require to be trained on the specific characteristics of the vaccines they are administering.

There are currently no issues with vaccine supply to any of Scotland’s Islands.