Chamber and committees

Teams of clinicians all across Scotland provided clinical input to the Scottish Government’s response to COVID-19.

Haematologists have been advising the Scottish Government continuously throughout the response to COVID-19. We have been very cautious in issuing guidance on who should be shielding during the pandemic as we did not want to do so unnecessarily. Only those with high personal risk were asked to consider shielding.

We have published national guidance on cancer treatment, and patient information on COVID19 and cancer. Using this guidance, we expect, as always, all clinicians to have clear and open conversations with their patients about their treatment options.

Those most at risk from the seasonal flu are already eligible to receive the vaccine for free. The Scottish Government is expanding free eligibility for the Seasonal Flu Vaccine in 2020-21 to:

• Social care workers who provide direct care;
• Household members of individuals who are shielding;
• Those aged 55 and over; and
• 50 to 54 year olds as vaccines supply allows.

We have secured additional vaccine and aim to vaccinate more people than ever before.

The Chief Scientist Office published a statement on the restart framework for clinical trial activity on May 27th 2020.

https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/cso-statement-on-the-restart-framework/

This confirmed that the Chief Scientist Office will monitor restart across Scotland, including setting up a COVID-19 Restart Operational Group to share best practice and support development of operational processes and guidance to support the resumption of non-COVID research activity across NHS Research Scotland, and a Restart Strategic Oversight Group is to provide advice, support and guidance to CSO on all aspects of non-COVID research restart.

Both these groups have been established and details are available from the NHS Research Scotland website.

http://www.nhsresearchscotland.org.uk/coronavirus/arrangements-for-clinical-trials

As part of the Scottish Government Cancer Recovery Plan a Cancer Clinical Trials subgroup is being established to provide advice, support and guidance on the restart of Cancer Clinical Trials.

The National Cancer Medicines Advisory Group was rapidly convened in response to COVID19 outbreak and has since met regularly to recommend new treatment options for many cancer types, including blood cancer.

NHS Grampian : The ANCHOR Centre - brings all Haematology, Oncology and Radiotherapy Day and Outpatient services under one roof. There will also be a dedicated lounge for teenage and young adult patients, an Aseptic Pharmacy for the production of chemotherapy treatments, and dedicated teaching and research facilities. Planned construction completion January 2023.

NHS Lothian: Edinburgh Cancer Centre – upgrade of the oncology facilities at the Western General Hospital (WGH) in order to provide a sustainable safe cancer services . Planned construction completion November 2022.

NHS Lothian are also in the early stages of developing an Initial Agreement for a regional cancer centre for the South East of Scotland. No business case has yet been submitted to the Scottish Government for review, but we are aware that one is being developed and we will review it as soon as it is submitted.

Scottish Government also continues to provide capital support for the replacement of radiotherapy equipment across NHSScotland on an annual basis. The replacement programme includes funding for MRI Simulators within the RT/PET plan.

The licensing of new medicines is reserved to the UK Government, and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Decisions around which medicines are made routinely available on the NHS in Scotland are made independently of Ministers and Parliament by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC). The SMC is a committee of clinicians, pharmacists, NHS board representatives, the pharmaceutical industry and the public. The SMC also routinely consults with a network of experts in a wide variety of fields about all new medicines under review.

We published the Framework for supporting people through Recovery and Rehabilitation during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic on 13 August 2020 and it is available to read on the Scottish Government’s website. https://www.gov.scot/publications/framework-supporting-people-through-recovery-rehabilitation-during-covid-19-pandemic/ .
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We are learning from other pandemics to consider potential implications while investing in research to better understand the dynamics of COVID-19 and its impact. In addition to the Framework we are prioritising the clinical guidelines for healthcare professionals and funding research into the long-term effects of COVID-19. We are committed to understanding the effects of this virus in Scotland so we can implement measures to support recovery from the infection.

Our National Cancer Recovery plan will address COVID19 risks in a number of ways, which will not be disease specific as the mitigation of these risks will help a wide range of patients.

Health Boards have been tasked with urgent implementation of local Clinical Prioritisation Groups (CPG’s) that will oversee ‘green-site’ theatre allocations on a regular (weekly) basis to ensure that prioritised patients are apportioned appropriate, and preferential, access to all green-site theatres.

Elective cancer surgery should be upscaled in ‘green sites’ with full adherence to and implementation of national policies for patient and staff testing before, during and after surgery.

Safety measures around use of personal protective equipment and the enhanced cleaning programmes.

Blood Cancer patients will also benefit from our future of shielding planning which will:

• Provide people with updated clinical evidence about their conditions and what that means for their risk from Covid,
• Help those shielding understand the changing levels of infection in the community and how to reduce the chance of catching the virus
• Provide that information in a way that is accessible, understandable and helpful,
• Give people who are shielding access to support that can help them make informed choices about their lives,
• Support people shielding to put their choices into practice.

Scottish Cancer Registry and Intelligence includes various sources of data. General cancer registration data is included up to 2018. 2019 Data will be available in April 2021.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31628 on 22 September 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Responsibility for delivering the Seasonal Flu Vaccine in 2020-21 rests with Health Boards and Integration Authorities.

Scottish Health Boards will begin to send invitation letters by post from the 18 September to those who are entitled to a free seasonal flu vaccine.