Chamber and committees

Because of the unpredictable lifecycle of this particular organism, it is not possible to routinely test buildings for an Aspergillus infection. Where water ingress creates the conditions for mould, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s staff work to remedy faults as soon as they are found and remove any mould with oversight from Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). Patients with Aspergillus are visited by an infection prevention and control nurse. Advice on the correct antibiotics to administer to patients is given by a Microbiology/ICD/antimicrobial pharmacist on request of the clinical teams.

A variety of risk assessments are undertaken across all wards in the Hospital, including 4a and 4b, covering social distancing, hand hygiene, infection control precautions (SICPs) audits every 6 months, patient placement, and the verification of the specialist ventilation systems in ward 4b. The new and innovative Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) dashboard available to all staff enables real time review of IPC data, and allows for a quick and effective response to any risks reported.

Following a successful three year pilot, in 2013 the four nations agreed to a 10 year grant to support those affected by the thalidomide drug. Over the last nine years the Scottish Government has issued a total of £11.512 million to the Thalidomide Trust, for distribution to Scottish survivors. A further £1.636 Million is projected for the final year (2022-23), bringing total funding to £13.15 million.

The most recently published ten year percentage change tables show some upward incidence trends and downward mortality trends. This reflects improved survival.

We are committed to finding cancer early when the chance of survival and even cure is higher – this is reflected in our £44 million Detect Cancer Early (DCE) Programme. Melanoma was added to the Programme in 2016 following a robust options appraisal exercise (this included reviewing a wealth of data from incidence and survival to mortality and staging).

Since then, over £400,000 has been invested across NHS Scotland to support skin cancer CNS workforce, enhance image capturing and sharing, provision of equipment for GPs/ANPs i.e. dermoscopes and the development and delivery of lesion training programmes.

The information requested regarding whether the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has invoked a Divisional Major Incident Response Plan, in relation to deaths due to hospital associated infection at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, is not centrally held by the Scottish Government.

Health and safety at work is a reserved matter. HSE has confirmed that the issues raised with them did not meet the criteria for a ‘Divisional Major Incident’ as outlined in their published response plans og-00076-appendix-4.pdf (hse.gov.uk) .

The information requested regarding whether the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has carried out any investigation into deaths due to hospital-acquired infection at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is not centrally held by the Scottish Government.

Health and safety at work is a reserved matter. HSE has confirmed that their published policy is generally not to investigate hospital acquired infections Who regulates health care (hse.gov.uk) . They have not investigated deaths at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital that may have been caused by a hospital associated infection.

HSE did however carry out an investigation into concerns raised with them in December 2019 about the ventilation within two wards at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the control of legionella in water systems across the hospital.

HSE was satisfied with the control of legionella but wrote to the Chief Executive of Greater Glasgow Health Board/NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde requesting improvements to the ventilation systems. An Improvement Notice was served in relation to the ventilation system within Ward 4C.

Further information is available on the NHS GGC webpage: https://www.nhsggc.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/news/2019/12/hse-improvement-notice/ . The Improvement Notice is being appealed by the Health Board. However, HSE is satisfied that appropriate remedial action has been taken.

Causes of death in Scotland are recorded by National Records of Scotland (NRS). The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) system, which is used in the UK to classify deaths, does not allow deep venous thrombosis to be separated from phlebitis (inflammation of a vein).

Figures from NRS are provided below, for which deep vein thrombosis (DVT) has been taken to refer to thrombosis of the deep veins of the leg. Deaths from DVT frequently occur from complications of the DVT, principally pulmonary embolism, so deaths from pulmonary embolism have been included in these figures. As mentioned above the ICD-10 does not allow DVT to be separated from phlebitis, so these figures may include a small number of deaths due to phlebitis.

Deaths attributed to deep vein thrombosis (DVT)* registered in Scotland, 2014 to 2020

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The 2022-23 Scottish Budget delivers record funding of £18 billion for the health portfolio to support our vital health and care services, including those services that are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID, chronic fatigue syndromes and chronic pain.

We have published ‘Scotland's long COVID service’, which sets out our approach and 16 commitments to improve care and support for people with long COVID in Scotland.

In addition, our £10million ‘long COVID Support Fund’ will provide NHS Boards with additional resource to respond in a flexible and tailored manner to the needs of people with long COVID.

In light of the final National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ME/CFS being published, we are pleased to confirm that a formal stakeholder consultation project will begin in early 2022. The main focus of this is to work collaboratively with key stakeholders towards implementing the recommendations within these guidelines, in Scotland.

We are continuing to work with Health Boards to ensure the remobilisation of appropriate pain management support as quickly and as safely as possible. As part of this we providing funding to enhance the capacity of pain management care through the Chronic Pain Winter Support Fund. We will shortly announce the outcome of this funding call. The projects we fund will boost the support available for people with chronic pain at the national and local level to help them maintain their health and wellbeing over the months ahead.

The Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 prohibits the display of tobacco related products inside retailer premises. No advertising of branded tobacco products is permitted either inside or outside a premise but stores are allowed to have generic, unbranded signs stating they sell tobacco on in-store gantries, and outside of buildings, however the latter is actively discouraged.

Any concerns around the compliance of a particular premises with Scottish law should be directed to the local authority. The Scottish Government provide funding of £1.34 million annually to councils for the enforcement of the legislation around the sale and purchase of tobacco and NVP’s. Local authority trading standards services treat the enforcement of legislation as a high priority issue.