Question reference: S5W-35848
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 9 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government given that there are currently multiple healthcare databases, whether it will record long-COVID patients in a single healthcare database, and by what date this will be completed.
Answer
We recognise the need to better understand the frequency, nature, and impact of Long COVID in the Scottish population and we have not ruled out the creation of a single healthcare database.
We are working to develop data, which will allow for future analysis of Long COVID in the community population in Scotland. This includes discussions with General Practice around clinical coding for Long COVID, and working closely with the Office for National Statistics to explore the data generated from the COVID-19 Infection Survey.
We have also funded nine extensive Scottish-led research projects on Long COVID through £2.5 million, which will greatly improve the clinically relevant knowledge base on the long-term effects of COVID-19.