Chamber and committees

We have established a process for individuals who have received one of their first coronavirus vaccinations outwith Scotland which allows them to upload official proof of vaccination from that country to their Scottish Vaccination record through NHS Inform . This will allow those individuals to receive a combined fully vaccinated status to show for international travel and domestic purposes.

Individuals who have been vaccinated in England or Wales can provide confirmation that they are fully vaccinated through NHS COVID Pass for domestic purposes.

The requested information on how many people were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), broken down by NHS board is not held centrally.

The Scottish Multiple Sclerosis Register provides information on new diagnoses of MS. The latest publication of the register shows 450 new patients with a confirmed diagnosis of MS were added to the MS Register in 2020.

The Louisa Jordan was always intended to be a temporary facility to provide additional capacity at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the effectiveness of efforts to suppress the virus, hospitalisations were reduced, NHS capacity was maintained, and NHS Louisa Jordan did not have to be used as a Covid hospital. If NHS Louisa Jordan were reopened, it would mean the disruptive reassignment of NHS staff from other critical NHS sites, which are already at high capacity.

Claims of bullying behaviour by civil servants are untrue. All members of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain (NACCP) are free to make whatever contribution they wish to discussions.

All committee members are required to abide by the behaviours set out in the Terms of Reference, including the values of respect and mutual collaboration to agree recommendations to help improve care for people with chronic pain. If these behaviours and values were not met, this would be taken very seriously and addressed.

As at December 2021 four representatives of the Chronic Pain Patient Reference Group attending the NACCP had written to officials to resign their positions. Two resignations took place in June 2021, with one in each of October and November 2021. It would not be appropriate to divulge the specific reasons cited by each individual, however I am clear that officials acted on the relevant feedback provided.

For example, as a result we are currently reviewing existing stakeholder engagement processes and structures around our work on chronic pain, including the role of the NACCP. The outcome of this work is intended to ensure meaningful engagement to support the future delivery and implementation of the Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery following completion of the current public consultation.

The Open Market Shared Equity scheme is targeted at first time buyers on low to moderate incomes regardless of the source of their income. This includes those in employment and in receipt of benefits. In 2020-21, the average gross household income of beneficiaries was £27,000 and 43% of households had at least one child.

We have invested more than £460,000 to enable Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland to deliver its long COVID Support Service. We have raised awareness of the service through:

• The Implementation Support Note which we have developed for clinicians supporting people with long-term effects of COVID-19 and has been disseminated to all NHS Boards. This resource includes information on the support available through Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s long COVID Support Service and how it can be accessed.
• The Decision Support Toolkit which was developed with the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre to incorporate key information from the Implementation Support Note, including details of Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s long COVID Support Service, https://www.signdecisionsupport.uk/ . Available via both a web-based platform and a mobile app, the toolkit presents clinicians with current evidence and helpful recommendations on assessment, investigations and referral, planning care, management and follow up for people experiencing long-term effects of COVID-19.
• The NHS Inform website which provides information, guidance and signposting for patients experiencing long-term effects of COVID-19.
• Our marketing campaign in October and November 2021 which included a marketing toolkit sent to more than 3,000 contacts across the NHS and third sector. This marketing toolkit contained information on Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s long COVID Support Service.

We are committed to ensuring that this service can be easily accessed by those who wish to do so, and we will continue to work with Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland to support this as appropriate.

Asylum is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. Asylum accommodation is delivered under Home Office contracts, with Mears Group holding the contract for Scotland. Responsibility under that contract includes meeting standards for undertaking any necessary repairs in accommodation.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with Mears Group, COSLA and Glasgow City Council across a range of asylum matters.

SIGN guidelines are produced by Health Improvement Scotland’s (HIS) evidence directory. The Scottish Government does not commission the production of SIGN guidelines and are not aware of plans from HIS to publish a SIGN guideline for adults with Cerebral Palsy (CP).

The member may find it helpful to view the documents contained on this evidence page of HIS’s website, which provides information and guidance on how requests are assessed, and how and evidence-based decisions are made.

The Clinical Priorities Team met with representatives from the third sector organisation, Cerebral Palsy Scotland on 8 December 2021 to discuss the ongoing development of care services for people with CP.

Funding provided by the Scottish Government (Chief Scientist Office) for research falls into three broad areas of activity, i.e. research studies, capacity building and supporting infrastructure.

The specific amounts provided by condition are set out below although it should be noted that research studies (funded by non-commercial and third sector organisations) would also have benefited from the provision of service support costs and other generic resources which are not routinely recorded by condition.

Research Grants

The Chief Scientist Office supports response mode grant committees and a small catalytic grants scheme (2016-19). The committees which comprise independent experts as well as public representatives consider applications across broad research remits to address health and care challenges in Scotland. Applications are subject to independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by the committees. It should be noted that (1) funding rounds were significantly impacted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic which saw a significant research response and (2) for 2021 to date only one of the two funding rounds has been completed.

We have not made a direct assessment of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the detection of atrial fibrillation. However, we regularly assess statistics on Covid-19’s impact on cardiovascular services more widely to inform our work.

Public Health Scotland Statistics on COVID-19’s impact on the health care system including cardiovascular procedures can be found at:

https://scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-covid-wider-impact/

To address the wider impacts of the pandemic our NHS Recovery Plan, backed by over £1bn of investment, sets out our plans for health and care over the next five years. Through the plan we will take forward our aim of increasing NHS capacity by at least 10% as quickly as possible to address the backlog of care and meet the ongoing healthcare needs for people across the country.