Question reference: S6W-26312
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 20 March 2024
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Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what it is doing to (a) raise awareness of and (b) improve (i) diagnosis and (ii) treatment of Lyme disease.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to continuing its work on preventing, raising awareness and improving our understanding of Lyme disease and ticks.
The Scottish Government-led Lyme Disease Awareness Raising Group will run the Lyme Disease Awareness Raising Campaign in May 2024 to coincide with National Lyme Disease Awareness Month. During which patients, activists, educators and Government will share information through social media and other platforms to raise awareness of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.
In May 2023, the group ran the Lyme Disease Awareness Raising Campaign which saw posters in community pharmacies across Scotland. The campaign was supported by PR activity, organic social media and stakeholder engagement for wider messaging dissemination. In addition to the posters, pharmacies were provided with information cards for customers to take away which included a QR code to link to further information on NHS Inform
A follow up campaign was carried out in summer 2023, with posters provided for display in local libraries, GP surgeries, community and leisure centres to highlight signs and symptoms to people holidaying in Scotland and may have missed the May campaign.
The campaign assets were shared with a variety of stakeholders including Visit Scotland, the Lyme Resource Centre, and Ramblers Scotland. A small-scale evaluation was undertaken in July in relation to engagement and impact of the May campaign.
The Scottish Health Protection Network (SHPN), comprising Public Health Scotland (PHS) and 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 Scottish Government continue to work closely with PHS and the as well as the SHPN Tick Borne Diseases subgroup which has developed content for an e-learning module to be made accessible through Turas for all health care workers in Scotland which is hoped to be ready this spring. The module covers an overview of ticks and tick borne diseases and focusses on the common presentations of Lyme disease which will allow care workers to diagnosis and treatment for the diseases early.
In addition, the Scottish Government will continue to use its own platforms to highlight the need to be tick aware and to set out the signs and symptoms of possible infection.