Chamber and committees

Good morning. In case of any conflict of interests, I should say that I am registered as a patient with Dr Shackles’s practice. By the grace of God, I have not troubled him or his colleagues very much so far.

I want to ask about the level of demand for long Covid treatment. We believe that there are 175,000 long Covid sufferers in Scotland, and I am interested in exploring whether there is enough capacity in the system for that level of demand. Clearly, some people will not come forward to look for support, but is there capacity in the system to support them if they do?

Is there a specific issue with inequalities? Are particular groups more likely to be affected—for example, women rather than men, or people who have disabilities—and do they therefore require additional support?

Thank you, Dr Taylor. I know that Lorraine Crothers wants to come in, but I want to follow up on one—quite relevant—point. You have obviously developed a specialism in that particular field. Are you the only person in Scotland who has that level of specialism or are there others?

Did you want to come back in briefly, Dr Taylor?

I think that one of my colleagues will ask about the workforce shortly. I go to Professor Donaldson.

I have a follow-up question for Janis Heaney. Are there plans to develop standardised guidance for use across all NHS boards in Scotland? If so, when is that likely to be in place?

I am conscious that I did not let in Linda Currie. Do you want to come in?

Thank you for letting me come to the committee, convener. I endorse everything that my friend Fergus Ewing has said. He is absolutely right to say that there is strong cross-party concern about the issue. My colleague Jamie Halcro Johnston apologises—he would have been here this morning to support the petition, but he has been detained elsewhere.

We are holding a debate on the issue in the chamber this afternoon, so I will say more about the matter then. However, briefly, to summarise, I have a strong personal interest in the matter. More than 30 years ago, I was involved in a head-on collision on a single carriageway section of the A9, which left me with multiple fractures. I spent weeks in hospital recovering. However, I was one of the lucky ones, because many other people who have been involved in similar accidents have not survived, as Fergus Ewing made clear when stating the stark figures for the past year, during which 12 people died on single carriageway sections.

There is little doubt that, if we had had a dual carriageway with central barriers between the lanes, there would not have been the same level of serious fatality and accident on the A9 as we have seen. It is a crucial issue from a road safety perspective. There was a lot of celebration in the Highlands and across Mid Scotland and Fife—the area that I represent—particularly in Perth and Kinross, when the current Scottish Government announced in, I think, 2011 a timetable for progressing the A9 dualling project to complete by 2025. We know that that will not now happen, which was confirmed by the minister just two weeks ago.

It is important that we keep on the pressure and press for a completion date and that we better understand the reasons why there is not faster progress. I entirely endorse the call for a parliamentary inquiry to be done by a committee of this Parliament. Such an inquiry could drill down into the issues and ensure that we have a proper understanding of what exactly is holding up this vital road safety project. If it does not progress, there will, sadly, be more fatalities over the next few years.

Good morning to you all. I will pursue a similar line of questioning, but I will look at the specific question of training on long Covid, which Stuart McIver mentioned.

As a committee, we have already picked up anecdotally that a lot of medical professionals simply do not have an understanding of long Covid. As you can imagine, GPs are very busy dealing with many other things, and when people present with long Covid, they do not understand the condition.

There are some obvious questions. What specific training would be helpful? Are you aware of any examples of good practice that already exist around training, not just for medical professionals but for employers in the public sector and elsewhere?

Jane, do you want to start?

Rob Gowans, to go back to my original question, are you aware of examples of good practice in training? A number of people have also mentioned long Covid clinics. Do you have a view on whether those would be a good thing?

Thank you. That is really helpful.

In response to a question from the convener, you suggested that there were pre-Covid areas of spending that were not as well targeted as they could have been, but they have just carried on. The Government has not really made an attempt to look at how effectively the money has been spent. Did you have anything particular in mind when you said that? Can you give us any examples of areas of spending that you think needed to be looked at more closely rather than just being rolled forward?