Question reference: S5W-34873
- Asked by: Ruth Davidson, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 1 February 2021
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Current status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 10 February 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the impact of NHS call centre staff working in their office rather than at home during the COVID-19 pandemic on (a) the transmission of the virus and (b) employee safety.
Answer
NHS24 is a critical part of our health service and continue to play an important role during the pandemic. The safety of all staff in NHS24 is our top priority.
NHS24 have put a considerable amount of effort into ensuring staff safety, including acquisition of two additional operational sites to ensure staff are able to maintain 2 m distance at all times; robust infection prevention and control systems are in place and staff and trade unions have played a key role throughout in both developing the approach and ensuring compliance.
NHS Boards have worked very closely with Health Protection Scotland (HPS) infection control to develop stringent protocols for use in call centres to help keep all staff safe. This includes, implementing social distancing measures, allocating individual equipment, headsets, wipes and hand gel as well as a regular programme of deep cleaning the call centre sites.
Given their role of ensuring safe and effective triage of patients, using clinical supervision where required, frontline call handling is not something which can be easily done from the home environment as it could cause major clinical risk . Where staff are able to work at home in terms of non-frontline services then they are doing so.