Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Public Health Scotland provides the Scottish Government with numbers of residents and staff tested in care homes, but it is not possible to disaggregate this further to provide a breakdown of the type of care home the data comes from .

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Public Health Scotland provides the Scottish Government with numbers of residents and staff tested in care homes, but it is not possible to disaggregate this further to provide a breakdown of the type of care home the data comes from.

Due to the prolonged incubation period of COVID-19, it has not so far been possible to report with the accuracy required how many cases of healthcare associated infection (HCAI) involving COVID-19 have occurred in each NHS board.

The normal definition of a HCAI is an infection, not present or incubating on admission, which then arises after 48 hours from admission. Current estimates for COVID-19 suggest a median incubation period from 5–6 days, with a range from 1–14 days. This means that COVID-19 arising before day 14 in hospital may not be HCAI.

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) is however working with UK counterparts, taking into account recent discussions at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, to establish UK-wide HCAI definitions for COVID-19. It is hoped then to publish information about data collected in NHS Boards based on these definitions as soon as is possible, and I will write to the member when this information is available.

We are working hard to ensure vital and urgent care remains, including the use of the Golden Jubilee and the use of private hospital capacity to treat these NHS patients. By utilising the private sector capacity we are able to provide a COVID free environment for urgent cancer procedures.

Over the coming weeks we will be developing a clinical priorities framework alongside health boards that will help to inform how the health and care system is aligned and managed during the next phase of the COVID-19 response, and beyond. This includes consideration of establishing dedicated “green” specific areas to carry out treatments including cancer.

The Scottish Government does not hold the total number of men or women with blood cancer, in each age group, who have contacted or died from COVID-19. National Records of Scotland have recently published statistics on Deaths Involving Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland, which can be found by following this link: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/covid19/covid-deaths-report-week-18.pdf . The Scottish Government also does not hold the intensive care information requested by the member.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting every care home in Scotland whether or not an outbreak has been experienced.

Health and Social Care Partnerships developed local mobilisation plans in response to the COVID-19 emergency. These plans, which are generally aligned with emergency planning arrangements of local councils and NHS Boards, identify key risks and challenges posed by COVID-19, including those in the care home sector, and outline appropriate responses to ensure that vulnerable people are protected.

Locally, partners are undertaking risk assessments of individual care homes to ensure that staff and residents are protected. This is being led by the Directors of Public Health who have been asked to provide enhanced clinical leadership working in partnership with the Health and Social Care Partnership and the Care Inspectorate. Local risk assessment work is constantly evolving and residents and relatives will be informed of any relevant actions coming from this work in an appropriate and timely manner.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Public Health Scotland provides the Scottish Government with numbers of residents and staff tested in care homes, but it is not possible to disaggregate this further to provide a breakdown of the type of care home the data comes from .

Cancer waiting times data collects information on eligible referrals who started first treatment for the ten main cancer sites that are part of the waiting times standards. This does not include blood cancer. The number of eligible referrals, from any source, who started chemotherapy as their first treatment in April 2019 is shown in Table 1 by cancer site. Information for April 2020 is not available. Therefore, Public Health Scotland has no information on the impact of COVID-19 on these figures.

Table 1 – Number of eligible referrals who started chemotherapy as their first treatment in the month of April 2019:

That information is not held centrally. Between 1 March 2020 and 27 April, over 97 million items of PPE have been distributed to NHS Boards.

Each board now has a single point of contact for supply and importantly distribution of appropriate PPE to each clinical setting in hospital and to ensure any issues are speedily addressed.

All Health Boards have produced mobilisation plans which set out the steps they are taking to maximise intensive care capacity while maintaining essential services, such as emergency, cancer and maternity care. All Health Boards have now implemented plans to increase ICU capacity to treble their baseline. This increase in ICU bed capacity includes increased staffing delivered through internal redeployment supported by education and training which is being locally provided to meet the needs of each Board. The Chief Nursing Officer issued guidance to all Health Boards to support the deployment of Nursing, AHP, Pharmacy and other staff in Critical Care last month.