Question reference: S6W-07653
- Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 24 March 2022
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 March 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS will continue on the emergency footing that the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care previously extended to 31 March 2022.
Answer
Once again, I want to thank our health and care staff for their magnificent work to date. The last few months have been enormously difficult and our health and care services are continuing to deal with a challenging combination of issues.
As we are now moving out of what has been a challenging winter period, the system remains under significant pressure. The number of new Covid-19 cases are at a high and continue to increase as well as currently having a record high number of Covid patients in hospital. Therefore, we must continue with a measured and consistent approach to the recovery and renewal of the vital service that we all rely upon. This will require balancing the capacity of the NHS and the wellbeing of our workforce to respond to increasing demands of emergency and urgent care, whilst reducing the backlog of planned care.
As we move through the next phase of the Strategic Framework, we will continue to support our NHS Boards to deliver against commitments in the NHS Recovery Plan and associated Delivery Plans to enable our NHS to plan and prepare the future delivery of health and social care services to our communities. We are confident that we have continued to build on lessons learned and that NHS Boards will be able to respond appropriately to any further challenges which lie ahead.
However, with that in mind, I have decided that the NHS will remain on emergency footing until at least 30 April 2022.