Question reference: S5W-35933
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 11 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 May 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) purchasing respirator hoods and stealth masks for dentists who are unable to be face fit tested for FFP3 masks, so that they can continue to undertake aerosol-generating procedures, and what assessment it has made of the costs of doing so.
Answer
It is vital that frontline staff from all clinical groups receive the protective equipment they require. For instance, National Procurement within NHS National Services Scotland (NP) are currently providing £1.5 million of PPE per week free of charge to dental contractors providing NHS care. Dentists previously sourced their own PPE. NP are also working hard to ensure a continued supply of the right PPE across a range of sizes.
Infection Prevention and Control guidance recommends use of an FFP3 respirator during Aerosol Generating Procedures in medium- and high-risk pathways (and in low-risk pathways, if staff choose this following an individual risk assessment). As such, the primary focus is on finding an appropriate FFP3 fit.
To deliver well-fitting FFP3 respirators to as many health and social care staff as possible, NP have a contract with a Scottish company to manufacture FFP3 respirators across a range of face sizes. This means NHS Scotland are receiving FFP3 respirators to a specification that better recognises the staff demographic within the health sector.
If an individual is ultimately unable to use an FFP3 respirator, and a powered respirator hood is judged by a Health Board to be the only alternative, this can be considered; but in every case this must be a clinically-led judgement and is not a matter for the Scottish Government to determine.