As with other parts of Scotland, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has faced unprecedented pressures over recent weeks. This has brought many unexpected challenges which are resulting in some patients waiting longer than necessary.

To help alleviate these pressures, we announced a substantial new investment of over £300 million in hospital and community care to support the NHS and social care system over winter. The will support a range of measures to maximise capacity in our hospitals and primary care, reduce delayed discharges, improve pay for social care staff, and ensure those in the community who need support receive effective and responsive care.

As part of our work to maximise capacity for winter, we are investing £10 million to support two new specialist programmes – Interface Care and Discharge without Delay - to support improved processes that ensure patients are discharged as soon as they are medically fit, avoiding unnecessary delays in hospital and ensure alternatives to admission.

Additionally, earlier this month I announced an additional £10 million winter funding which aims to ease pressures in A&E departments and minimise delays that patients are currently experiencing when they need urgent care. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde received £2.1 million of this funding.

We continue to meet regularly with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to discuss their local improvement plan.

The Scottish Government recognises that Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) is a debilitating condition which can have a huge impact on people’s lives. We are committed to ensuring those affected by it are supported through the NHS and our social security system.

Social security support may be provided through devolved disability benefits, which comprise our newly launched Child Disability Payment, Child Winter Heating Assistance and also through Adult Disability Payment, which is planned to launch nationally in the summer of 2022, and Pension Age Disability Payment which will follow.

For all of Scotland’s new forms of disability assistance, we are making improvements to the application and decision making process. For Adult Disability Payments this will include replacing current assessments with person centred consultations. This and other changes will ensure that we take full account of fluctuating conditions like ME and markedly improve how all decisions are made.

In advance of the launch of our new benefits, adults continue to be eligible for existing disability benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of pharmacies that have closed over the past 12 months nor reasons for closures. The provision of community pharmacy pharmaceutical care services are the responsibility of territorial Health Boards as set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, including pharmacy closures. Each Health Board holds separate data on those community pharmacies that have been unable to deliver pharmaceutical care services due to closures.

Any challenges faced by community pharmacies in ensuring the safe and effective dispensing of treatments should be discussed with the local Health Board to minimise impact and risk to patients.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04288 on

‎ 24 November 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 Cost of Care model will be updated and the uplift will be applied to both care staff and senior care staff.

Having been driven to extinction, beavers are now again an established part of Scotland’s wildlife, and the Scottish Government recognises that they will play an important role in restoring Scotland’s natural environment. Through their creation of wetland habitats that support a range of species including invertebrates, fish, amphibians, birds and mammals. Beaver dams can also play an important role in filtering sediment from watercourses and in mitigating flooding.

We will support trapping and translocation projects as a proactive measure to help establish beaver presence in areas of Scotland outside their current range and beyond areas where it might be expected that natural expansion would reach in the short term. As set out in the Shared Policy Programme, financial and practical support will be made available to facilitate translocation.

NatureScot have played a key role in working with stakeholders to develop our approach to beaver management and build sufficient experience enable us to take this significant step in expanding the beaver range in Scotland. NatureScot will lead on developing a national beaver strategy to direct this work as part our programme to restore and enhance biodiversity across Scotland. We will ask NatureScot to put this new policy direction into effect from the start of the new trapping season in the summer of 2022. This will mean that projects that aim to create new populations of beavers outside their current range will be considered for licenses. As is normal with these types of projects, groups proposing them would be expected to provide support on aspects such as consultation, monitoring and management. Trapping and translocation as a licensed mitigation measure will be carried out by or on behalf of NatureScot.

We will ask NatureScot to examine aspects of trapping and translocation with a view to guidance and streamlining the process. For example there may be scope for expanding the range of techniques and traps employed, as well as reducing some of the current measures and monitoring of beavers trapped and released within Scotland. We will also ask NatureScot how capacity for trapping and translocation can be increased if necessary to support additional demand.

All use of trapping and translocation will continue to be in accordance with animal welfare best practice and in accordance with the IUCN Guidelines and the Scottish Code on Conservation Translocations. Both of these documents emphasise the need for meaningful consultation and the importance of local acceptance of translocated animals. This will remain an important aspect of the Scottish Government and NatureScot’s consideration of translocation proposals.

The Scottish Government understands that through their modification of the environment, beavers can produce negative impacts on some species, on agricultural land, forestry and on infrastructure. Many of these impacts can be reduced or avoided through mitigation measures that allow beavers to remain in situ . NatureScot will continue to provide advice and financial support for such measures for as long as they are required. We will also promote the development of ideas for beaver mitigation techniques employing new technology. Lethal control will continue to be utilised as a management measure where necessary and as a last resort.

In conclusion we look forward to facilitating the expansion of beavers as part of our efforts to restore Scotland’s natural environment while supporting land managers to manage any risks this may pose. We will build on the experience of managing beavers in Scotland learned over the last twelve years or so and enabling the biodiversity and hydrological benefits to be seen over a wider area of Scotland, while continuing to ensure important economic interests can continue to be protected.

The UK wide clinical guideline on managing the long-term effects of COVID-19 has been developed collaboratively by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).

The evidence reviews on interventions for long COVID were carried out by NICE. At present there is no evidence on hyperbaric oxygen therapy within the guideline.

NICE’s surveillance methods have indicated there is no new evidence which meets the research protocol for interventions on long COVID. However NICE will continue to carry out surveillance on all guideline questions, including the question on interventions, and the results of this surveillance will inform future updates to the living guideline.

There have been long COVID research calls by the National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation asking for projects investigating possible therapies for long COVID and a number of studies of this type have been funded.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment has not formed part of any application to either of these calls. Other ongoing calls are open and available for long COVID research applications and if a project on hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment for long COVID was received, it would be considered.

The NHS is under extreme pressure due to the pandemic and NHS Ayrshire and Arran, like all Health Boards, is experiencing significant issues, including workforce challenges and high levels of delayed discharge.

To minimise pressures, last month I announced an additional £300 million package of measures to support health and care services. Over and above this and to maximise capacity during winter, we have invested £10 million in two new specialist programmes which aim to provide alternatives to admission and improve processes to ensure timely discharge.

Earlier this month I also announced further funding of £10 million to support Health Boards maintain resilience throughout winter by putting in place a range of measures including ensuring appropriate levels of staffing are in place across the system to facilitate efficient and effective patient care; enhancing front door teams to undertake assessments and avoid admissions, as well as enhancing pharmacists to rapidly respond to referrals and prepare timely discharge medications. NHS Ayrshire and Arran received £715,000 of this funding.

Myself and my senior officials have been meeting regularly with the Executive team at NHS Ayrshire and Arran to agree the immediate actions that will support improvements and minimise delays for patients. We have agreed with the Board a series of actions including a Short Life Working Group which specifically focuses on reducing the number of long delays and the length of time people spend in hospital.

The number of businesses which received support for the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (Mainland and Island) between 2018 and 2020 is shown in in the following table:

All alarms have a limited lifespan of around ten years due to deterioration of the sensors over time. Where alarms are expired, or no longer fit for purpose, it is recommended they are disposed of appropriately either by returning to the retailer or taken to a local authority household waste recycling centre.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) previously published advice on the Management of end-of-life smoke detectors, including advice for businesses and households on safe disposal and promoting the environmentally sound management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) devices.

I am aware of ongoing discussions between industry and Scottish local authorities regarding recycling options of end-of-life smoke alarms as part of Household Waste Recycling Centre provision.

SEPA continue to engage with the WEEE sector and other UK Environment Agencies on this matter.