Chamber and committees

Waiting times statistics for patients requiring to see a dementia specialist for a consultation or treatment are not held centrally.

The following table shows the number of samples collected within the cervical screening programme from 1 January 2019 to 26 August 2021. As part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the cervical screening programme was paused between 30 March 2020 and 29 June 2020. The table below shows that a small number of samples were collected during this time; this is because colposcopy and gynaecology continued taking samples for clinical management, and some GP practices continued screening for those on non-routine recall.

Screening resumed on 29 June 2020 in a phased, careful and prioritised way, as part of the remobilisation of the NHS in Scotland. Anyone who was invited for cervical screening before the pause in March and had yet to make an appointment or had it cancelled was able to make an appointment from 29 June 2020. Non-routine cervical screening appointments resumed in mid-July and routine screening appointments from September 2020.

It is important to note that the data below is management information and has not been subject to the necessary quality checks carried out for an official publication.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02045 on 25 August 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government has been working in collaboration with Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service to improve data on COVID-19 vaccination uptake in Scottish prisons.

New prison vaccination data was been published by Public Health Scotland on 15 September and the link is attached for convenience for the Member. https://publichealthscotland.scot/our-areas-of-work/covid-19/covid-19-data-and-intelligence/covid-19-weekly-report-for-scotland/

Prison vaccination data will now be reported on a regular basis and will assist in considering possible courses of action to improve the vaccination uptake amongst the prison population, including for individuals who have not received their second dose prior to being released from prison.

I would refer the Member to the fact as previously answered in S6W–02319 on 21 September 2021, prison staff are under no obligation to tell their employer of their Vaccination status, as it is not mandatory to be vaccinated. Although staff are paid away from work to attend a vaccination appointment and are offered paid leave if symptoms deliver, as part of employee support arrangements.

We are guided on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme by the Covid Vaccine Deployment Plan which was last updated in July 2021.

We are actively monitoring and evaluating the vaccination status for prisoners and young offenders. NHS bodies and public health agencies, are working collectively with The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to ensure we are constantly striving to make progress, on these matters, to ensure best practice is maintained. Each prison establishment has a Local Coronavirus Response Group to assist with planning locally.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The NHS Scotland COVID Status app is being developed for release to the public by the end of September with vaccination information initially. We are developing our app to meet the EU requirements so we expect this to be compatible with the IATA Travel Pass. We are engaging with international stakeholders and UK Government to ensure the app is compatible with the other countries requirements of entry.

PDF downloads of vaccination status and 2D barcodes (known as QR codes) were made available for international travel from 3 September to facilitate international travel.

With the British Heart Foundation Data Science centre, the University of Edinburgh is looking at the long-term risk of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism after infection with COVID-19. Analyses are currently ongoing, but results are anticipated soon.

This work is funded by the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association, with support from Health Data Research UK.

The Scottish Government is not funding research specifically investigating links between long-COVID and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). However, both direct research funding and research support funding has been provided to projects that are investigating the longer term effects of COVID-19.

On December 22 2020, the Chief Scientist Office announced the outcome of its funding call for Scottish-led research on the long-term effects of COVID-19 infection. Following a competitive independently peer reviewed process 9 long-COVID research projects were funded with a total funding commitment of around £2.5 million. Details of the funded projects are available from the Chief Scientist Office website.

Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

Ministers will set out a statement of policy on the factors to be taken into account when considering whether to use the discretionary power within the UK Withdrawal from the EU (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 in the coming months .

The cervical screening programme routinely invites anyone with a cervix who is between the ages of 25 and 64 for a test every 5 years. This is in line with the recommendation given by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), to change the primary screening test from cytology (looking at cervical cells through a microscope to find those which could develop into cancer) to testing for high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV). The new test is more effective at identifying those at risk of developing cervical cancer, meaning those who don’t have HPV will be invited for a cervical screening test every five years instead of every three. The Scottish Government, along with the rest of the UK, is advised on all aspects of cervical screening including the move to HPV testing by the UK NSC.

Further information on the UK NSC’s recommendation can found on the following website: https://view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk/cervical-cancer/.

Scottish Ambulance Service staffing is up 63.5% under this Government, by 2,346.1 WTE between Sept 2006 and June 2021, and now stands at 6,040.4 WTE.

In terms of specific numbers of paramedics in post since 2017, this is detailed in the following table: