- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how many hospital patient deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded in each month since March 2020, also broken down by how many of these people had at least one other underlying health condition.
Answer
National Records of Scotland (NRS) publish weekly statistics on the number of deaths where COVID-19 was written on the death certificate, either as a suspected or probable involvement in the death. The publication also includes a breakdown of these deaths by location of death. The latest publication was released on 18th November and a link is provided here:
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/
vital-events/general-publications/weekly-and-monthly-data-on-births-and-deaths
/deaths-involving-coronavirus-covid-19-in-scotland
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 December 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that there is sufficient workforce capacity to manage the backlog of cases in cancer diagnostic services.
Answer
The Scottish Government has allocated a total of £6m in additional funding to provide extra scanning capacity between July 2020 and March 2021. This funding will support remobilisation planning and delivery for diagnostic imaging services, and facilitate a progressive reduction in the backlog of elective imaging. This funding will directly support 6 staffed MRI scanners and 3 CT scanners, 2 of which are based at NHS Louisa Jordan and are managed by NHS Golden Jubilee. In addition, health boards have developed initiatives to provide additional in-house and external capacity to further support local remobilisation planning, supported by this funding.
Whilst routine outpatient imaging services were suspended during the pandemic peak, throughout the pandemic, diagnostic imaging services have continued to provide a 24/7 service for all in-patient and emergency referrals, and service has continued for all those referrals triaged as urgent or urgent suspicion of cancer. These patients continue to be seen as a priority. We continue to look actively at the throughput for diagnostic imaging services, though capacity is necessarily impacted by the need to maintain appropriate physical distancing, and other infection prevention and control requirements.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 November 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 26 November 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32489 by Joe FitzPatrick on 9 November 2020, how many (a) people aged 65 and over, (b) people who have an eligible health condition, (c) pregnant women and (d) healthcare workers are eligible for the flu vaccination, also broken down by how many have received the vaccination to date.
Answer
The expanded flu vaccination programme began on 1 October. The eligible cohorts for the flu vaccination and the working planning assumptions are detailed in the table below.
Scottish Government officials are working closely with Health Boards to monitor vaccine uptake amongst eligible cohorts. A weekly report on seasonal influenza activity in Scotland is published on the Public Health Scotland website: https://publichealthscotland.scot/downloads/weekly-national-seasonal-respiratory-report-18-november-2020/
Category | Eligible Cohort | Working Planning Assumptions | vaccinated |
number | % | number | % |
65 years and over | 1064075 | 798056 | 75% | data collection started |
At Risk | 782711 | 587033 | 75% |
Carers | 47463 | 35597 | 75% |
Pregnant without risk | 34871 | 26153 | 75% |
pre-school | 141157 | 91752 | 65% |
Primary School | 404763 | 303572 | 75% |
Healthcare Worker | 152021 | 91213 | 60% |
Social care Worker (new) | 133150 | 79890 | 60% |
55 to 64 year olds (new) | 674788 | 438612 | 65% |
Total | 3434999 | 2451879 | |
This data is provided by Public Health Scotland.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 November 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, based on scientific projections, how many fewer daily COVID-19 infections it expects to see by the end of October 2020 following the so-called circuit-breaker, and how this compares with the projected number if no further interventions were made.
Answer
The aim of the restrictions that are running from 9 October to 2 November are to suppress the growth in total infections. Predicting the exact effects of the restrictions on daily Covid-19 infections is difficult, though Scottish Government is closely monitoring changes in the epidemic on an ongoing basis. Data on estimated daily infections are published on the Scottish Government website each week.
Modelling data published on 7 October predicted infections would reach the March peak by the end of October, R would be significantly above one and the doubling time would be nine days. The reality at the end of October as a result of the Scottish population’s compliance to restrictions was daily infections between 7,100 and 18,400, R at 1.0 – 1.3 and a doubling time of 17-52 days.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 November 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, based on scientific projections, how many fewer hospital admissions it expects to see by the end of October 2020 following the so-called circuit-breaker, and how this compares with the projected number if no further interventions were made.
Answer
The aim of the restrictions running from 9 October to 2 November are to suppress the growth in total infections. Predicting the exact effects of the restrictions on hospital admissions is difficult, though Scottish Government is closely monitoring changes in the epidemic on an ongoing basis. Data on hospital admissions are published on the Scottish Government website each day. Modelling data published on 7 October predicted infections would reach the March peak by the end of October, R would be significantly above one and the doubling time would be nine days. The reality at the end of October as a result of the Scottish population’s compliance to restrictions was daily infections between 7,100 and 18,400, R at 1.0 – 1.3 and a doubling time of 17-52 days.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 November 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, based on scientific projections, what changes it expects to see to the doubling time rate of the COVID-19 virus by the end of October 2020 following the so-called circuit-breaker, and how this compares with the projected rate if no further interventions were made.
Answer
The aim of the restrictions that are running from 9 October to 2 November are to suppress the growth in total infections. Predicting the exact effects of the restrictions on doubling time is difficult, though Scottish Government is closely monitoring changes in the epidemic on an ongoing basis. Data on doubling time are published on the Scottish Government website each week ( https://www.gov.scot/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-modelling-the-epidemic/ ).
Modelling data published on 7 October predicted infections would reach the March peak by the end of October, R would be significantly above one and the doubling time would be nine days. The reality at the end of October as a result of the Scottish population’s compliance to restrictions was daily infections between 7,100 and 18,400, R at 1.0 – 1.3 and a doubling time of 17-52 days.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 November 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, based on scientific projections, how much lower it expects the COVID-19 R number will be by the end of October 2020 following the so-called circuit-breaker, and how this compares with the projected number if no further interventions were made.
Answer
The aim of the restrictions that are running from 9 October to 2 November are to suppress the growth in total infections. Predicting the exact effects of the restrictions on R number is difficult, though Scottish Government is closely monitoring changes in the epidemic on an ongoing basis. Data on the R number are published on the Scottish Government website each week ( https://www.gov.scot/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-modelling-the-epidemic/) .
Modelling data published on 7 October predicted infections would reach the March peak by the end of October, R would be significantly above one and the doubling time would be nine days. The reality at the end of October as a result of the Scottish population’s compliance to restrictions was daily infections between 7,100 and 18,400, R at 1.0 – 1.3 and a doubling time of 17-52 days.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 November 2020
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the announcement that Scotland will host one of the two proposed COVID-19 "mega labs".
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2020
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 October 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 12 November 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how likely it is that it will be able to extend eligibility for the flu vaccine to people aged over 50, and, if it is able to do so, when it will be able to confirm this.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognise the importance of protecting as many as possible from the impact of seasonal flu. That is why we aim to vaccinate 50-54 year olds subject to vaccine supply.
The ability to protect the people of Scotland depends upon the global supply of vaccines. We will assess, using the best clinical evidence, once uptake rates in groups at the greatest clinical risk become clear, how we can utilise vaccine supply to protect those most vulnerable to seasonal flu. We are aware that NHS Scotland Boards have seen increased and earlier demand this year for the vaccine from eligible groups, including health and social care staff.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 October 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 12 November 2020
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce clear national guidance on the order in which priority groups should be invited for their flu vaccinations.
Answer
The flu vaccination programme officially began on 1 October, and a phased approach is being taken this year. The following groups are being vaccinated in Phase 1, and have been eligible for vaccination since 1 October:
- People aged 65 and over
- People who have an eligible health condition
- Pregnant women
- Healthcare workers
- Social care workers who provide direct personal care
- Household members of people who are shielding
- Young and unpaid carers
- Children aged 2-5 (and not yet at school)
- Primary school children
The majority of people in these groups have now received their invitations for the seasonal flu vaccine.
