Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government did not make an announcement at the end of 2019 regarding a launch of a ‘Doctor’s Health Service’. The Scottish Government is working with partners to ensure that all health and social care workers, including doctors, have the support they need when they need it, including access to specialist psychological services.

Assistive technology support is largely provided by local authorities, housing providers and third sector organisations. The majority of the support provided is via telecare services which has been a well-established lifeline for disabled or elderly people for a long time. Local Authorities have trained teams who support people to utilise technology at home, for example to use their red button service for specific help or other helpful technologies which can remind people to take important medicines or bring on the lights automatically when getting in and out of bed. Guidance on telecare was issued at the start of the pandemic for local authority providers and to ensure that suitable support was in place to continue to deliver a sustained service. Digital has played an important role in the response to Covid-19, for example through NHS Near Me video consulting which was designed with users to be intuitive and easy to use while also being accessible through technology that many people have in the palm of their hands. This way of developing and designing services has been important in supporting the scale of adoption that we have seen to date.

Part 4 of the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016 ] also places a duty on health boards to provide or secure the provision of communication equipment, and the support in using that equipment, to any person who has lost their voice or has difficulty speaking. Scottish Government officials have been in contact with the NHS national service - Scottish Centre for Technology for Communication Impaired (SCTCI) - to hear how they are meeting the challenges faced during the pandemic. SCTCI (and other specialist services who hold the legislative duty) advise that services have continued to be available during this time, subject to necessary adaptations of processes and procedures to ensure compliance with all relevant Covid-19 guidance on infection prevention and control.

The Scottish Government is developing a plan for a staged approach to the return of services that contribute to the wellbeing of residents in care homes. The plan, which will be published in due course, is aimed at people, organisations and professionals including health and social care services visiting care homes to support people where it is clinically safe to do so. It is important that the resumption of services and suppliers operating within care homes is done incrementally in order to protect those living and working in care homes. The use of non-face to face methods such as telephone or near me consultation, which has been in operation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic for some services, will continue wherever possible.

The indicative date for the reopening of indoor sport and leisure facilities including swimming pools is 14 September. However the Scottish Government will continue to review the situation to see if earlier reopening is possible, with the intention to provide a further update on 20 August.

We have been working with the sector to develop robust guidance and protocols that will allow necessary preparation for reopening indoor facilities and swimming pools and provide confidence for the public and members and staff to return with physical distancing and enhanced hygiene measures.

The Scottish Government is grateful for the cooperation of the people of Scotland in supporting our national response to the coronavirus pandemic, and we are very conscious of the considerable personal and professional sacrifices arising from the restrictions we have had to put in place. We do not want to keep any restrictions in place a moment longer than we have to but we remains conscious that moving too fast at any point increases the danger of increased infection and the very real possibility of a return to lockdown.

Following our review on 9 July we have now confirmed that from 22 July massage therapists can resume services, provided they use their own premises only. When reopening they should follow the hygiene and safety measures outlined in our published guidance on close contact retail.

As to the resumption of baby yoga classes, we recognise the importance of physical activity for people of all ages particularly at this point in time. We would like to see indoor facilities, including yoga studios, reopen as soon as it is safe to do so and we are working towards making that happen. However, we can only do so when we are satisfied that reopening such facilities will not increase the risk of transmission. We are thinking carefully about these matters on an ongoing basis and how to address the particular challenges for indoor leisure facilities in particular, for example, respiratory and hand hygiene and ventilation. We have been developing with the sector robust guidance and protocols that will allow necessary preparation for indoor facilities and swimming pools to provide confidence for members and staff to return with physical distancing and enhanced hygiene measures.

The indicative date for the reopening of indoor sport and leisure facilities is 14 September. However, we will continue to review the situation to see if earlier reopening is possible, with the intention to provide a further update on 20 August.

It is worth noting that since 10 July people are able to meet in larger groups outdoors – a maximum of 15 people from up to five different households, provided 2 metres physical distancing is maintained from people outside your own household. Therefore, if the circumstances would allow, people could conduct baby yoga sessions outdoors if they wished.

At present, the indicative date for the reopening of indoor sport and leisure facilities including ice rinks is 14 September. However the Scottish Government will continue to review the situation to see if earlier reopening is possible, with the intention to provide a further update on 20 August.

We have been working with the sector to develop robust guidance and protocols that will allow necessary preparation for reopening indoor facilities and swimming pools and provide confidence for the public and members and staff to return with physical distancing and enhanced hygiene measures.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Natural Heritage and I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the Member to provide details.

The Scottish Government is required by law to review lockdown restrictions every three weeks. The next review falls on 10 August. On the basis of the scientific advice, and subject to all other risk mitigation measures being appropriately implemented, the current guidance in relation to school settings is clear; there is no requirement for physical distancing between children in primary schools and secondary schools. The guidance is available here: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance on preparing for the start of the new school term in August 2020

The Covid-19 Education Recovery Group, which brings together councils, teachers’ representatives, parent bodies and trades unions, continue to meet to discuss the next steps as we plan for the safe re-opening of schools and on the 30th of July we published detailed guidance for the full time return to schools in August.

The Scottish Government has published guidance for the community learning and development sector, developed in partnership with local authorities and youth work providers, setting out health and safety guidance to ensure a safe return to normal provision of youth work activity. Youth work activities can take many forms, for example outdoor youth work, which has, in line with the route map, been able to resume from 13 July.

The decision to permit youth work activities to take place in local authority venues is a decision for local authorities, who will take into account their own health and safety needs and whether they can safely meet government guidelines and guidance on the resumption of educational activities.

The licensing of medicines is reserved to the UK Government.

A small number of the 56 research projects funded through the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) rapid research in COVID-19 call are investigating potential treatments for COVID-19. These projects are examining either existing, or are an early stage exploration of new, therapy. If the results of these studies are promising, further research evaluations will be needed beyond the CSO funded projects before application in routine clinical practice could be considered. In line with CSO’s standard conditions of grant, responsibility for any exploitation of research results from these projects rests with the grant holding Institutions and these Institutions must inform CSO of any proposed discussion or negotiation on commercial exploitation of the results.