Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-33251

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the uptake level has been for the COVID-19 testing that has been offered to staff working in specialist cancer services.

Question reference: S5W-33249

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 2 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many home visits dental health support workers delivered in each month in 2020 as part of the ChildSmile Practice programme.

Home visits are part of the Childsmile Core Programme managed by the NHS Boards rather than the Childsmile Practice Programme and I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-33247 on 2 December 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 .

Question reference: S5W-33204

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 November 2020
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.

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
Category	Eligible Cohort	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.

Question reference: S5W-32492

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2020
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.

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.

Question reference: S5W-32490

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2020
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.

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.

Question reference: S5W-32491

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2020
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.

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.

Question reference: S5W-32493

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2020
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.

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.

Question reference: S5T-02529

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 November 2020
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".

Question reference: S5W-32658

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 12 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) flu vaccines NHS Scotland has procured for this winter and (b) people are eligible for a vaccination, and what uptake of vaccines it estimated when procuring.

Question reference: S5W-32664

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 October 2020
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.

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.

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