Chamber and committees

We have encouraged Health Boards to maintain as many options for birth as possible whilst taking into account workforce capacity, patient safety and the potential need for ambulance transfer.

We are aware that some maternity services had to take the difficult decision to temporarily suspend home birth services to ensure that midwife led services remain available for all women. We expect Boards to keep this under continual review within their local mobilisation plans and are reassured that this is the case, with some now providing home birth. Additionally, we have asked Health Boards to consider the role of student midwives in their final 6 months to act as a second person to provide support at home birth.

From Friday 29 May, one on one personal training or coaching is permitted if it is outdoors, physical distancing can be maintained, and is with members of your household and/or members of one other household. A coach or personal trainer may not deliver training to more than one household at any one time or provide training to more than one household per day. When participating in training or coaching, where possible, avoid touching surfaces and sharing equipment and touching your mouth and face.

The Scottish Government is very grateful to everyone who has stepped forward to offer their services in support of the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, a Health and Social Care Covid 19 Accelerated Recruitment Portal was established by NHS Education Scotland to allow those who held a midwifery registration within the last three years, or were in their second or third year of study to become a midwife, to register their availability to support NHS Scotland. Independent midwives were also eligible to register with the portal.

This portal has been very successful with over 23,000 applicants offering their support. As 26 May 2020, 71 midwives have completed an expression of interest form on the portal. In addition, 343 student midwives have also completed an expression of interest form and of these, 321 have completed the process and are either in employment or soon to be employed by NHS Boards. Due to the success of the recruitment portal, at present new registrations have been temporarily paused.

There may be other opportunities for independent midwives, maternity assistants and doulas to support NHS Scotland during this pandemic. Those who qualify should monitor the Health and Social Care Covid 19 Accelerated Recruitment Portal at https://careers.nhs.scot/coronavirus-covid-19-recruitment/ . Or alternatively, healthcare workers can monitor the NHS Scotland Recruitment website for NHS Board positions which are available, or approach their local Health Board.

The current COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and requires all of our NHS services to adapt, in light of the effect on public health, including the health of staff, and also in line with measures introduced to reduce spread of the virus. Provision of safe and high quality maternity care has continued to be a priority for the NHS, and maternity services, whilst having to adapt, have continued, as far as possible, to provide women with choices in relation to birth. .

On 6 April we provided all Clinical Directors and Heads of Midwifery with guidance on minimum agreed standards for planned maternity care. This guidance operates alongside that issued by the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Royal College of Midwives that has issued since the outbreak began. This guidance is kept up to date, with the most recent version issuing on 19 May.

Boards have adapted to local circumstances to provide the maximum amount of scheduled antenatal and postnatal maternity care, and a range of options for birth in relation to local staffing and other circumstances, reducing to the minimum only as a last resort. Services that have been temporarily stood down will be reinstated at the earliest opportunity and all Boards in Scotland have plans in place to address this.

In the interests of minimising risks during the COVID-19 outbreak, it is the right thing to restrict numbers of people visiting hospitals to essential visits only. We know it is important that pregnant women can be supported during this important time by family members, and we understand how difficult this position is, but it is crucial to minimise the physical interactions within the hospital setting.

The Scottish Government has written to Health Boards outlining the principles for restricting visitors to birth partners being present to support women during both labour and birth. However, if partners have symptoms of COVID-19, they will not be allowed into the maternity suite. In this instance women are encouraged to consider identifying another person to support them during birth. The letter can be found at: http://www.healthliteracyplace.org.uk/resource-library/
article/u/updated-principles-for-restricting-visitors-to-patients-in-nhs-scotland-during-covid-19-outbreak/ .

In order to minimise the risks, attendance of a partner during antenatal visits and following the birth when mum and baby are moved to a ward is not permitted at present, however this is being kept under review.

NHS National Procurement Scotland manage the supply of these provisions on behalf of NHS Scotland and they have national framework agreements in place for the provision of medical tubes, feeding tubes and oxygen which covers the supply into both hospitals and community settings.

While NHS National Procurement do not have access to specific patient details, they have close working relationships with the four main suppliers of these products and they have been clear that there have been no recent supply issues with home deliveries.

The Scottish Budget announced in February 2020, demonstrated the Scottish Governments ongoing commitment to helping those furthest from the labour market move towards and into work. In 2020-21 we are continuing to invest more than £33 million to support those who are most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of the current pandemic, which will be essential in supporting Scotland’s economic recovery.

The funding includes continued delivery of Fair Start Scotland, which has an increased budget this year, from £20m in 2019-20 to £21.48m reflecting the maturity of the service as we move into the third year of delivery.

The remainder of the funding will support other employability services including No One Left Behind, Community Jobs Scotland, Delivering Your Potential and Our Future Now.

The term counselling covers a wide range of therapeutic approaches. Some of these are highly defined and regulated (e.g. counselling psychologists), whereas others are not. Some counselling is delivered by therapists who are registered with a professional organisation that has been accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). This means they have met the PSA's required professional standards to practise. The Scottish Government expects counselling professionals providing online mental health counselling during the COVID-19 outbreak to follow the guidance of their relevant professional organisation and to be trained to the level required by that organisation. Any variation of guidance or training requirements for practicing as a registered member of the professional counselling organisation is a matter for the professional organisation.

The Scottish Government published information on the allocation each local authority would receive through the Food Fund on 5 April 2020. This is available on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/news/coronavirus-food-fund/

Local authorities have been given flexibility in how to deploy the £30 million allocated to them through this funding, meaning that they are able to consider what measures would be best implemented locally. The guidance shared encourages a cash first approach where practical.

This investment is supporting over 150,000 children to access Free School Meals - a direct financial transfer approach is being taken to this provision in 12 local authorities.

We have agreed light-touch monthly reporting from local authorities in relation to wider support offered, including key activities delivered, estimated reach and challenges faced.

Our cash first approach is supported by more than doubling investment in the Scottish Welfare Fund, committing an additional £45 million on top of the £35.5m set out for the Fund in the Scottish Budget. This approach will help to relieve pressures on the rest of the system, ensuring people are able to buy the food they need where it is possible for them to safely do so.

Despite the significant impact of Covid-19 on Scottish Government business, we remain fully committed to introducing new regulations covering dog, cat and rabbit breeders, pet sellers, animal sanctuaries and rehoming activities in this Parliamentary session.

The work to deliver this legislation continues to progress and we will lay a draft of these regulations before the Scottish Parliament for its approval as soon as possible.