Chamber and committees

Following the First Minister’s statement on 30 July 2020, from 3 August coaches are permitted to work with more than four households outdoors in a day, subject to sport scotland guidance. We will also be looking to make changes to allow coaches to work with larger groups outdoors and will provide further details on when this can resume in due course.

The indicative date for the reopening of indoor leisure facilities is 14 September with physical distancing and enhanced hygiene measures are in place. The Scottish Government will keep this under review to consider whether an earlier re-opening date is feasible.

The Scottish Government are working to ensure that high quality care is available for Trauma and Orthopaedic patients, and discussions on the resumption of Orthopaedic services have taken place with Mr Alastair Murray, Chair of the Scottish Committee of Orthopaedic and Trauma.

In relation to best practice guidance for joint replacement surgery, Trauma and Orthopaedic services across Scotland are ensuring they adhere to the existing standards for pre-assessment, admission and surgery that were in place before the Covid pandemic. Care is being taken to ensure that patients are segregated to minimise risk of nosocomial wound and prosthetic infection.

Follow up post-surgery will be in line with the current standard practice and will often be carried out via the telephone or through the use of “Near Me”, with patient initiated reviews being offered so that individuals can contact the service for advice if any problems/concerns arise. In addition the Scottish Arthroplasty Project continues to collect data on this patient group to monitor clinical outcomes.

Mr Murray and the Scottish Government Muscular Skeletal (MSK) Access Team and the Quality Improvement Team are keen to work with patient groups to help inform any proposed changes to waiting list priority in MSK and have already been involved with the cross party group on MSK chaired by Brian Whittle MSP, as well as Versus Arthritis.

With effect from 15 July, Scottish Ministers removed the restrictions in the Health Protection (Coronavirus)(Scotland) Regulations 2020 affecting attendance at marriage ceremonies and civil partnership registrations, subject to the need to maintain physical distancing within the couple’s chosen venue.

This means that it is now possible for a marriage ceremony or civil partnership registration to take place in any venue permitted to open under the Health Protection Regulations, such as hospitality venues, places of worship and registration offices.

The Scottish Government has published guidance for couples and celebrants to coincide with this change. At present, we are advising that no more than 20 people should attend a marriage ceremony or civil partnership registration, provided they can be accommodated safely with the necessary physical distancing in the couple's chosen venue. This limit will be reviewed again on 20 August.

The Scottish Government did not make an announcement at the end of 2019 regarding a launch of a ‘Doctor’s Health Service’. The Scottish Government is working with partners to ensure that all health and social care workers, including doctors, have the support they need when they need it, including access to specialist psychological services.

The Scottish Government is grateful for the cooperation of the people of Scotland in supporting our national response to the coronavirus pandemic, and we are very conscious of the considerable personal and professional sacrifices arising from the restrictions we have had to put in place. We do not want to keep any restrictions in place a moment longer than we have to but we remains conscious that moving too fast at any point increases the danger of increased infection and the very real possibility of a return to lockdown.

Following our review on 9 July we have now confirmed that from 22 July massage therapists can resume services, provided they use their own premises only. When reopening they should follow the hygiene and safety measures outlined in our published guidance on close contact retail.

As to the resumption of baby yoga classes, we recognise the importance of physical activity for people of all ages particularly at this point in time. We would like to see indoor facilities, including yoga studios, reopen as soon as it is safe to do so and we are working towards making that happen. However, we can only do so when we are satisfied that reopening such facilities will not increase the risk of transmission. We are thinking carefully about these matters on an ongoing basis and how to address the particular challenges for indoor leisure facilities in particular, for example, respiratory and hand hygiene and ventilation. We have been developing with the sector robust guidance and protocols that will allow necessary preparation for indoor facilities and swimming pools to provide confidence for members and staff to return with physical distancing and enhanced hygiene measures.

The indicative date for the reopening of indoor sport and leisure facilities is 14 September. However, we will continue to review the situation to see if earlier reopening is possible, with the intention to provide a further update on 20 August.

It is worth noting that since 10 July people are able to meet in larger groups outdoors – a maximum of 15 people from up to five different households, provided 2 metres physical distancing is maintained from people outside your own household. Therefore, if the circumstances would allow, people could conduct baby yoga sessions outdoors if they wished.

The indicative date for the reopening of indoor sport and leisure facilities including swimming pools is 14 September. However the Scottish Government will continue to review the situation to see if earlier reopening is possible, with the intention to provide a further update on 20 August.

We have been working with the sector to develop robust guidance and protocols that will allow necessary preparation for reopening indoor facilities and swimming pools and provide confidence for the public and members and staff to return with physical distancing and enhanced hygiene measures.

At present, the indicative date for the reopening of indoor sport and leisure facilities including ice rinks is 14 September. However the Scottish Government will continue to review the situation to see if earlier reopening is possible, with the intention to provide a further update on 20 August.

We have been working with the sector to develop robust guidance and protocols that will allow necessary preparation for reopening indoor facilities and swimming pools and provide confidence for the public and members and staff to return with physical distancing and enhanced hygiene measures.

The Scottish Government is developing a plan for a staged approach to the return of services that contribute to the wellbeing of residents in care homes. The plan, which will be published in due course, is aimed at people, organisations and professionals including health and social care services visiting care homes to support people where it is clinically safe to do so. It is important that the resumption of services and suppliers operating within care homes is done incrementally in order to protect those living and working in care homes. The use of non-face to face methods such as telephone or near me consultation, which has been in operation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic for some services, will continue wherever possible.

Assistive technology support is largely provided by local authorities, housing providers and third sector organisations. The majority of the support provided is via telecare services which has been a well-established lifeline for disabled or elderly people for a long time. Local Authorities have trained teams who support people to utilise technology at home, for example to use their red button service for specific help or other helpful technologies which can remind people to take important medicines or bring on the lights automatically when getting in and out of bed. Guidance on telecare was issued at the start of the pandemic for local authority providers and to ensure that suitable support was in place to continue to deliver a sustained service. Digital has played an important role in the response to Covid-19, for example through NHS Near Me video consulting which was designed with users to be intuitive and easy to use while also being accessible through technology that many people have in the palm of their hands. This way of developing and designing services has been important in supporting the scale of adoption that we have seen to date.

Part 4 of the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016 ] also places a duty on health boards to provide or secure the provision of communication equipment, and the support in using that equipment, to any person who has lost their voice or has difficulty speaking. Scottish Government officials have been in contact with the NHS national service - Scottish Centre for Technology for Communication Impaired (SCTCI) - to hear how they are meeting the challenges faced during the pandemic. SCTCI (and other specialist services who hold the legislative duty) advise that services have continued to be available during this time, subject to necessary adaptations of processes and procedures to ensure compliance with all relevant Covid-19 guidance on infection prevention and control.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Natural Heritage and I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the Member to provide details.