Chamber and committees

The following table provides the weekly figure for those people who have been advised to self-isolate by the Protect Scotland App. Please note that this does not include those advised by T&P staff to self-isolate as close contacts of index cases

In addition the table also provides a total number of downloads of the App since it was launched on 9 September 2020.

Details of the evidence that informed the development of Protect Scotland can be found at https://protect.scot/transparency . We continue to monitor the effectiveness of the app, in conjunction with Public Health Scotland, with the app functioning as intended. In addition, we are working closely with app project teams from other nations to share learning and to enable our app to work in other countries. This includes consideration of effectiveness measures, and the approach required around evaluation.

Since the response set out to question S5W-32315, the Scottish Government has made available additional funding of £112 million to support social care winter preparedness. This takes the level of additional financial support to £262 million for social care to address the financial implications of Covid-19, including provision of support for care homes and additional care home places. Further work is ongoing to review in more detail the ongoing financial implications across the sector and to ensure that the necessary support continues to be provided.

In terms of funding in the longer term, the Scottish Government is working to bring forward the Scottish Budget for 2021-22 at the earliest opportunity. This will include detail of our ongoing support across health and social care services.

While there is currently no established preventative treatment for COVID-19, Scotland is participating in UK-wide research to establish both preventative and supportive treatments. To date three supportive treatments, remdesivir, dexamethasone and hydrocortisone, have been identified. The Scottish Government will continue to work with NHS Lothian and other territorial health boards to plan for and deliver preventative and supportive treatments as these emerge.

Whilst recent news from Pfizer is very welcome, we do not yet have a date for the availability of a Covid-19 vaccine for use in Scotland.

The UK Vaccines Taskforce is procuring COVID-19 vaccines on a 4 nations basis and we expect that any doses that become available to the UK will be deployed on an equitable basis. We will prioritise to protect those considered to be most at risk, in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) advice available. ‎

In Scotland we already deliver nearly two million doses of vaccine routinely every year so we have a comprehensive delivery infrastructure in place. We have been developing a national plan to vaccinate the over 18 population in phases that align with the JCVI advice. That national plan will be delivered with local NHS Boards.

This information is not available. The app does not store personal data anywhere and is not made visible by the app to anyone, including the Scottish Government, not even NHS Scotland. Only completely anonymous data is stored in the app users mobile phone, and is only stored in a public registry if the app User decides to share his or her anonymous data. For more information, see https://protect.scot/how-we-use-your-data

Annual information on unplanned discharges from drug treatment is published by Public Health Scotland. The most recent publication is available here https://beta.isdscotland.org/media/3879/2020-03-03-sdmd-tables.xlsx .

Equivalent information on unplanned discharges from alcohol treatment is not available. This will be collected on the DAISy system which will start to go live from 1 December 2020, and so this information will be available for future years.

There is a wide range of data and research that analyse the impact of opioid substitution treatment on individuals. Much of this information shows that OST is an important treatment with a strong evidence base.

The use of OST as a treatment is in-line with the current ‘UK Guidelines on the Clinical Management of Drug Misuse and Dependence’ and the ‘Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs’ who state that methadone can be a very helpful part of treatment and recovery for heroin dependence. Its use was also reviewed by a Scottish Independent Group in 2013 who found that it remained an effective treatment and should remain as a significant element of the treatment options available.

The Drug Death Taskforce Medication Assisted Treatment sub-group is taking forward work that will define national standards for the consistent delivery of medication assisted treatment (which includes OST) in Scotland, and to help partners achieve it through a quality improvement approach. This work also involves establishing measures of success for people who use MAT.

In Scotland the responsibility for the planning, designing and commissioning of alcohol and drug services is delegated to Integration Authorities. Integration Authorities issue directions to NHS Boards and Local Authorities as providers and purchasers of alcohol and drug services setting out the intention and required delivery of the function, financial resource attached and the intended outcome. Directions should specify in some detail what the Health Board, the Local Authority or both are to do in relation to carrying out a particular function to deliver services. The Integration Authority is required to review the delivery of directions as a part of its approach to performance management, scrutiny and audit. Further information is available here https://www.gov.scot/publications/statutory-guidance-directions-integration-authorities-health-boards-local-authorities/#:~:text=Directions%20should%20include%20detail%20on%20the%20required%20delivery,in%20the%20same%20report%2C%20using%20a%20standard%20format.

NHS Boards and Local Authorities can also act as purchasers of services and hold legally binding contracts with third sector providers of alcohol and services. These contracts enable these public sector organisations to hold third sector services to account and include expectations over governance as well as measures or targets relating to performance and outcome delivery.

Following the announcement of the national lockdown in Scotland in March 2020 all dental care in high street settings ceased, with treatment transferring to within the Urgent Dental Care Centres in each NHS Board area for the most urgent cases. Since that time we have implemented a phased return of NHS dental services to ensure that appropriate protections are in place for patients, practitioners and public health. It is the case that all dentists, whether they carry out NHS work or work privately, are subject to the same requirements to control the spread of coronavirus. The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 require all healthcare providers to take all reasonable measures to ensure safe practice in the controlled environment in which they are currently operating.

The return of the full range of NHS dental treatments from 01 November is being safely delivered through the provision of PPE to NHS dental contractors and is supported by the clinical evidence and guidance. This will ensure that NHS dental patients in Scotland will have access to NHS treatment in the first instance. However, this is not a return to pre-COVID levels of patient volumes and when seeking an appointment patients should expect to be prioritised within the dental practice on their oral health needs.