Question reference: S5W-11374
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 18 September 2017
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Current status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 28 September 2017
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what preventative action (a) Health Protection Scotland and (b) each NHS board has taken to warn of tick-related health conditions; what (i) posters, leaflet and other information have been issued and (ii) events have been organised on this topic (A) routinely and (B) since 1 September 2017, and what analysis it has carried out or plans of the effectiveness of this.
Answer
The Scottish Health Protection Network (SHPN), comprising Health Protection Scotland (HPS) and all the NHS Health Boards, as well as Local Authorities and other agencies with a responsibility for public health, formed a Lyme disease group as a subgroup of the Gastrointestinal Infections and Zoonoses (GIZ) group at the beginning of 2016. The group has produced new public-facing materials, in the form of an information leaflet and an infographic poster, explaining the risks from ticks and tick borne diseases and highlighting simple steps people can take to avoid infection. The group has also launched the Outdoor bugs and germs pages on NHS Inform (https://www.nhsinform.scot/bugs-and-germs), bringing together in once place, for the first time, comprehensive advice on how to avoid infection from bugs and germs. Scottish Government officials, along with members of the SHPN GIZ group are currently planning greater and sustained promotion of these materials commencing in Spring 2018.
Lyme disease has also featured on the programme of the NHS Health Protection Symposium held in December 2016, which was open to all members of the SHPN, and the symposium was attended by a group of individuals from different sectors and regions of Scotland. Through February and March, evening meetings for Community Pharmacy Groups featuring Lyme disease were presented by members of the group in 5 Health Boards and in August 2017, a Lyme disease one-day symposium was held in Benbecula, organised by the local Health Protection team in partnership with SHPN.
The ongoing work of the group seeks to improve surveillance of Lyme disease in Scotland. This will give us a better estimate of the burden of disease and the impact of our efforts to raise awareness about its avoidance.