Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this level of information, however, I can assure you that the Glasgow airport welcome desk is staffed to coincide with individuals from Ukraine arriving who may require assistance. Outwith daytime hours, signage providing telephone numbers is set up at both the domestic and international arrivals area. A welcome hub has also been established at Glasgow Airport, where displaced people will be fully supported, including an immediate needs assessment. The Welcome Hubs are multi-agency and local authority led. In addition to this, our national contact centre reaches out to people we know have received their visa before they travel to Scotland. Through this we are able to offer travel advice and obtain planned arrival information, including where and when someone is planning to arrive in Scotland.

The Welcome desk at Glasgow airport is staffed to coincide with individuals from Ukraine arriving who may require assistance and my officials continue to work in partnership with the local authority to provide support and services for all arrivals. The welcome desks are staffed during daytime hours, outwith these hours, they can phone the Scottish Refugee Council helpline number who can give advice based on the appropriate visa route.

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme Lead, who conducts the annual review process, meets with NHS boards on behalf of Scottish Government. This engagement allows us to understand the provision of stroke services, including training and staff capacity across NHS boards, and where challenges or opportunities for sharing good practice exist.

Scottish Government representatives also sit on the National Advisory Committee for Stroke (NACS), where specialists from NHS boards across Scotland provide expert advice and recommendations relating to Scottish Government policy for the provision of stroke care. NACS has recently developed the Progressive Stroke Pathway ( Strokes: progressive stroke pathway - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ), which was published on 22 March 2022. This document sets out an ambitious vision of what a progressive stroke service in Scotland should look like.

The rehabilitation sub-group of NACS, which is made up of specialists across a range of disciplines from various NHS boards in Scotland, played an important role in helping to shape the Progressive Stroke Pathway recommendations relating to stroke rehabilitation services. On the back of this input, the Progressive Stroke Pathway makes a number of recommendations relating to the provision of stroke care, and the contributions of appropriate training and staff capacity in helping deliver this.

We will continue to engage regularly with these specialists from across Scottish NHS boards as we move into the implementation phase, considering the recommendations made in the Progressive Stroke Pathway.

As part of the pathfinder programme guidance will developed and issued to NHS Boards on GP DACS. However, I should clarify that Near Me is not an asynchronous model (as it only provides real-time video consultations) and that AskMyGP has been procured at a local level and does not fall under the remit of the national programme.

The Scottish Government has supported the men’s sheds movement in Scotland since 2016 with sustained core funding provided to the national support organisation, the Scottish Mens Sheds Association (SMSA), which has enabled them to grow the men’s sheds movement here in Scotland year on year.

We are aware of their contribution to the preventative health agenda, tackling social isolation and loneliness, and their impact on our wider community empowerment ambitions, and that is why we continue to support the growth of men’s sheds.

Scottish Government is currently working with the SMSA and their Executive Officer Jason Schroeder, to agree the necessary support for this year that will help them continue to grow the movement here in Scotland.

The expenditure on local adoption of GP DACS is not currently monitored at a national level given the variation in different approaches and systems that are currently in use for online triage and asynchronous consultations. We expect to develop a clearer picture of this as we develop the approach to national GP DACS.

The COVID-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues noted in its recently published evidence summary , that the evidence continues to indicate that teachers do not have an increased risk of severe disease. Guidance for all schools has been updated to reflect public health guidance on symptoms of a respiratory infection, including COVID-19 and we are asking ask people to continue to take sensible, basic steps in order to protect themselves and others in the same way as we do within shops and on public transport.

In relation to those who are clinically vulnerable, the Scottish Government announced on 27 April that we will formally end the Highest Risk List on 31 May 2022. The success of the vaccination programme, and availability of new medicines to treat Covid-19, mean the majority of people on the list are at no greater risk from Covid-19 than the rest of the population in Scotland.

The Chief Medical Officer has for some time advised people on the Highest Risk List to follow the same advice as the rest of the population unless advised otherwise by their GP or clinician. This applies equally to household members of people on the list and includes going into schools and early learning and childcare settings. He has also advised people whose immune system is suppressed to take extra care and follow the advice of their GP or clinician as they would have done before the pandemic.

At this stage in the pandemic it is no longer considered necessary or proportionate to continue to ask school staff and secondary pupils to test regularly. This is in line with advice from Public Health Scotland, senior clinicians and the Advisory Sub-group on Education and Children’s Issues. That advice makes clear that the population currently has much stronger protection against COVID-19 than at any other point in the pandemic, due to the vaccination programme (levels of vaccination are very high amongst school staff) and the development of natural immunity to the infection. In contrast to the position when the testing programme was first introduced, severe health outcomes for all age groups are far less likely to arise due to this protection, availability of and access to antiviral treatments, and increased scientific and public understanding about how to manage risk.

The Board is ensuring the pyramid of support for patients with MS by working in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Neurology Service who provide a specialist neurology service through a Service Level Agreement. The NHS Western Isles Neurology Team has weekly discussions with their NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde colleagues to discuss the Team’s caseload.

NHS Western Isles is also working to meet Commitment 9 in the Neurological care and support: framework for action 2020-2025, namely testing innovative ways of delivering health and social care, including new roles and new arrangements for co-ordinating care and support for people with neurological conditions such as MS.

The Board also aims to recruit to an Advanced Clinical Nurse Specialist – Neurology role who will work with the current Parkinson’s specialist nurse to support people with neurological conditions including MS that require specialist support, ensuring equity of care.

The Scottish Government is working with partners, including the Children and Young People’s Commissioner, on new human rights-based non-statutory guidance to minimise the use of restraint in schools.

The physical intervention working group began work on the new guidance in January 2020. Progress was affected by group members’ focus on the Covid-19 response. However, work resumed in June 2020 and positive progress has been made since then. The working group last met on 23 November 2021. Following that meeting, working group members reached agreement by correspondence that the draft guidance can be put to public consultation. The Scottish Government is currently preparing this consultation.

Details of the membership and notes of the meetings of the physical intervention working group are available on the Scottish Government’s website: Physical Intervention Working Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The NHS Recovery Plan highlights our ambitious plans to expand and grow the workforce, in particular to assist with the additional procedures we intend on undertaking through our NTC's.

Significantly, we are recruiting more staff throughout the NHS so our ambitious recovery can be fully realised, with this plan outlining our commitment to:

Recruit 1,500 new clinical and non-clinical staff for National Treatment Centres by 2026 .

We use a range of measures to monitor the wellbeing of the workforce taking into account the diverse nature of the workforce operating in a range of roles and geographies, the broad spectrum of wellbeing needs at both a professional and personal level and different reporting arrangements across sectors.

We continue to actively listen to colleagues across Health and Social care to understand where the current pressures are, and what actions can be taken to mitigate their impact on staff.