Chamber and committees

Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on the extended use of face masks and face coverings in hospitals, primary care and wider community healthcare was updated on April 14th 2022 to reflect the change from legislation to guidance for the wider use of face masks and face coverings in public spaces, and to align with the updated Scottish Winter (21/22 Respiratory Infections in Health and Care Setting Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Addendum.

The updated guidance for staff and patients/visitors reaffirms the continued use of face masks in healthcare settings. Staff (in hospital, primary care and community healthcare) providing direct care are strongly recommended to continue to wear Type IIR fluid resistant surgical masks (FRSMs) at all times while on shift.

Staff in non- clinical areas are strongly recommended to wear a FRSM (or their own face covering) when not seated at a desk.

Out- patients and visitors are strongly recommended to wear a face covering when attending health and community healthcare settings. Face masks are provided at the entrance to hospitals for any individual who requires one.

Section 5.1.5 of the Scottish Winter (21/22 Respiratory Infections in Health and Care Setting Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Addendum sets out the current recommended PPE requirements for Healthcare workers across the NHS (hospital, primary care and community healthcare).

The safety of staff in health and social care settings is our top priority and spending decisions on pandemic PPE are, at every stage, led by clinical need and current guidance. Work on implementing a joined-up public sector procurement arrangement which will provide Scotland with a resilient and secure pandemic PPE supply for the long term is being taken forward at pace.

All NHS Boards in Scotland, have a named Motor Neuron Disease (MND) clinical nurse specialist, either employed directly by the Board or provided by a neighbouring Board through Service Level Agreements. NHS Dumfries and Galloway is in the process of recruiting to their vacant post, with specialist nurse resource being provided by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in the interim.

The information for which NHS Board areas have a MND clinical lead is not held centrally, however all Scottish Health Boards have a named Consultant Neurologist who diagnoses and undertakes clinical oversight of patients with neurological conditions including MND.

We set up the super sponsor scheme to remove the need for displaced people from Ukraine to have to apply for a visa with a named person as sponsor. When applying for their visa, displaced people can only select one sponsor – so they can select the Scottish Government as their sponsor or a specific individual host. Selecting the Scottish Government allows people to apply for their visa straight away, and not wait to be matched with an individual host. It also ensures that people are accommodated safely when they arrive, before being matched to longer-term accommodation.

Anyone experiencing long term effects following vaccination should speak to their GP or clinician involved in their care. They should expect an equal level of care for their condition to those with similar conditions not caused by vaccination. Those experiencing side effects from the vaccination can report these using the MHRA yellow card scheme.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of measuring post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infections, or long COVID, in Scotland. This is needed to help forecast and plan the provision of healthcare services for people experiencing long COVID.

Currently the best source of data about people with long COVID in Scotland is the monthly Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting on ‘Prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the UK’. The ONS survey sample is weighted to represent people aged two years and over living in private households in the UK. This contrasts with the ZOE COVID Symptoms Study, whose participants are self-selecting and are not necessarily representative of the whole population.

The most recent ONS monthly report, published on 6 May 2022, covers the four-week period ending 3 April 2022 ( Prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) ). It showed that in Scotland:

• An estimated 151,000 people (2.88%) of the private residential population, who had (or suspected they had) COVID-19, self-reported experiencing long COVID of any duration .
• An estimated 105,000 people (2.00%) of the private residential population, who had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least 12 weeks previously , self-reported experiencing long COVID.
• An estimated 64,000 people (1.22%) of the private residential population, who had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least 12 months previously , self-reported experiencing long COVID.

It is estimated that self-reported long COVID symptoms were adversely affecting the day-to-day activities of 107,000 people in private households in Scotland with long COVID of any duration, with an estimated 36,000 of these individuals reporting that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities had been limited a lot.

Going forward, Public Health Scotland will lead on surveillance of long COVID. It is currently anticipated that this will be undertaken via the EAVE II study, described below.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office has funded nine research projects designed to improve our understanding of the longer term effects of long COVID. Three projects focus on measuring the prevalence and symptoms of long COVID. All started in early 2021 and will run for two years.

LTE2015.pdf (scot.nhs.uk) ‘Developing and validating a risk prediction model for long COVID-19’. Undertaken by the University of Edinburgh, in collaboration with Public Health Scotland, this research uses the EAVE II study, originally funded by the Medical Research Council ( An Introduction to EAVE II | The University of Edinburgh ). EAVE II used a pseudonymised patient dataset to track the COVID-19 pandemic as it unfolded across Scotland. This dataset will now be used to create a tool to identify people at greatest risk of developing long COVID. In the course of developing that tool, the research will generate data about the number of people in Scotland diagnosed with long COVID and their use of health services.

lte2006.pdf (scot.nhs.uk) ‘Defining and understanding the longer-term effects of COVID-19: a mixed methods study exploring the frequency, nature, and impact of ‘long COVID’ in the Scottish population’. Undertaken by the university of Glasgow, this study will identify how many people continue to be unwell, their symptoms, and how it affects their lives. Scottish adults who had a positive COVID-19 test, and a negative test comparison group, will be sent an SMS message inviting them to take part in the study. If they agree, they will answer questions about their health before and after COVID-19, and any effect on their lives, with the questions repeated at regular intervals.

LTE2008.pdf (scot.nhs.uk) ‘COVID-19: Tracking Persistent Symptoms in Scotland (TraPSS)’ – undertaken by the University of the West of Scotland. This project aims to improve our understanding of long COVID in the Scottish population, and particularly in people whose original symptoms were relatively mild. The current evidence describing the types of symptoms other studies have reported will be reviewed, and people will be surveyed at different stages of recovery to find out what kinds of persistent symptoms they have.

Weekly management information published as part of the Coronavirus (Covid-19): Trends in Daily Data publication ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-trends-in-daily-data/ ) shows that delays first exceeded pre-pandemic levels (1,640 delays in January 2020) on 19 January 2020, with 1,664 delays recorded. Delays remained above 1,640 for the next two weeks before reducing again to pre-pandemic levels between 9 February and 23 March.

The whole health and social care system is under severe pressure and staff continue to work tirelessly to provide safe care. However, we continue to see extreme pressures across the whole health and social care system, with more people coming through hospitals who need high levels of care and support to go home, alongside high levels of unmet need in the community.

To address this significant additional funding has been allocated to support social care, including £62m to enhance care at home capacity; £48m to increase the hourly rate of pay; £40m to provide interim care arrangements; and £20m to enhance multi-disciplinary teams. Funding is also being used to rapidly scale up Hospital at Home services, which aim to reduce acute admissions and support timely discharge.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information broken down by referral type.

The following is a breakdown of the funding provided by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Huntington’s Association (SHA), since 2012.

2012 - £103,000

2013 - £93,000

2014 - £88,000

2015 - £138,000

2016 - £133,000

2017 - £133,000

2018 - £145,600

2019 - £50,000

2020 - £40,000

2021 - £15,000

Total Funding - £938,600

This funding largely comprises support for the development of a national care framework for Huntington’s Disease, and organisational core and project funding for the SHA, to support the provision of their specialist services and initiatives for people affected by Huntington’s Disease and their families.

I refer the member to the answer to PQ S6W-08279 on 10 May 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) supports research grant schemes providing funding opportunities for applied research projects across the range of NHS, health and care challenges in Scotland. These are open to applications for research projects on long-COVID involving long-COVID patients that could include laboratory-based analyses. Applications to these schemes undergo independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees. CSO funded NHS Research Scotland infrastructure also provides support for research in this area including to recruit patients to the UK-wide Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study to understand and improve long-term health outcomes for patients who have been in hospital with COVID-19.