- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines recommending that long COVID patients should have support from a doctor-led integrated service, what its response is to reported concerns that this is not uniformly followed across NHS boards, which may risk exacerbating any health inequalities in accessing care.
Answer
Section 8.1 of the ‘COVID-19 rapid guideline: managing the long-term effects of COVID-19’ developed jointly by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) recommends to “provide access to multidisciplinary services, if available, [. . .] for assessing physical and mental health symptoms and carrying out further tests and investigations. Services should be led by a doctor with relevant skills and experience and appropriate specialist support, taking into account the variety of presenting symptoms.”
The rationale section of the guideline relating to this recommendation notes that “1 model would not fit all areas” and “in areas where multidisciplinary services are not available, services may be provided through integrated and coordinated primary care, community, rehabilitation and mental health services.”
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what work has been undertaken to specifically measure (a) the impact of long COVID on (i) older people and (ii) ethnic minorities and (b) the ability of these groups to access long COVID treatment.
Answer
Patient related experience and patient outcome measures will be recorded through NHS Boards’ use of the C-19 YRS digital screening tool. The provision of heath data through this tool will assist in understanding the provision and effectiveness of long COVID services. Where possible, the data will be disaggregated by age, gender, ethnicity, and deprivation quintile. This will support understanding of any inequitable variation in service provision, experience and outcomes which may need to be addressed through service changes.
The Strategic Network has contracted the University of Leeds to support the initial evaluation of long COVID services in Scotland, using data from the C19-YRS tool. The outputs of the evaluation are expected following the end of the financial year.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps have been taken to review public health messaging on long COVID.
Answer
NHS Inform has a dedicated long COVID microsite for people with ongoing symptoms after Covid-19, accessible at Long-term effects of COVID-19 | NHS inform . The information was updated in November 2023 following a user research exercise conducted with people living with long COVID to understand their experiences of accessing the information and identify areas for further development of the content.
More broadly, current COVID-19 specific guidance is still in place for the public and wider guidance for individuals and non-clinical workplaces, promoting a risk-based approach to building resilience to respiratory infections, including COVID-19. Any change in guidance will be driven by the data and evidence gathered, as well as expert advice.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered any spending changes to funding for long COVID, in light of the recommendations of the COVID-19 Recovery Committee’s report, Long COVID.
Answer
We remain committed to delivering the £10 million long COVID Support Fund in full. The 2024-25 budget published on 19 December 2023 outlines our plans to make £3 million from the long COVID Support Fund available over 2024-25. We anticipate that the remainder of the funding will be allocated over 2025-26.
Following the publication of the COVID-19 Recovery Committee’s report on long COVID, we have confirmed that we will consider baselining long COVID Support funding for NHS Boards at a level to be determined based on progress made by NHS Boards over 2023-24.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what monitoring has been undertaken to ensure that long COVID services provide equitable care across all NHS boards and do not widen existing health inequalities for patients in deprived areas.
Answer
As set out in my answer to question S6W-26000 on 18 March 2024, patient related experience and patient outcome measures will be recorded through NHS Boards’ use of the C-19 YRS digital screening tool. The provision of health data through this tool will assist in understanding the provision and effectiveness of long COVID services. Where possible, the data will be disaggregated by age, gender, ethnicity, and deprivation quintile. This will support understanding of any inequitable variation in service provision, experience and outcomes which may need to be addressed through service changes.
The long COVID National Strategic Network has contracted the University of Leeds to support the initial evaluation of long COVID services in Scotland, using data from the C19-YRS tool. The outputs of the evaluation are expected following the end of the financial year.
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 .
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a breakdown of which NHS boards have specific doctor-led services for long COVID patients.
Answer
This is a matter for each territorial NHS Board. The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether long COVID data from the Scottish Health Survey have been used in the development of its long COVID service design.
Answer
Data from the Scottish Health Survey did not inform the development of ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scotland's Long Covid service’, published on 30 September 2021. This is because the results of the Scottish Health Survey 2021, which included questions on long COVID for the first time, were published on 8 November 2022.
Responsibility for service delivery rests locally with NHS Boards who configure services taking into account local circumstances and the reasonable needs of their patient populations.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 15 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether the £237.5 million of Barnett consequential funding arising from the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget statement on 6 March 2024, as a result of the NHS productivity plan, will all be spent on the NHS in Scotland.
Answer
HM Treasury’s costing for the NHS productivity plan shows funding starting in 2025-26. Therefore no consequentials are expected in 2024-25 in relation to the plan, and the position is only expected to become clear at the next UK spending review.
The Health consequentials of £237 million for 2024-25 arising from the Chancellor’s Spring Statement are less than the £470 million in-year Health funding received for 2023-24 and less than is needed given the pressures faced.
While we are considering the outcome of the UK budget and what it means for NHS Scotland we are committed to passing on frontline health consequentials and have indeed gone further than consequentials in our investment in this budget.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 March 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024
To ask the First Minister what urgent action is being taken to address long waits in A&E departments, in light of reports that over 7,300 patients waited for more than a day in 2023, with some waiting much longer.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 11 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Care Inspectorate employees are reportedly still waiting to receive a 2023-24 pay offer, in light of employees of similar organisations, including Scottish Government civil servants, having already received pay offers for this financial year.
Answer
I can confirm that the Care Inspectorate made a pay award offer for financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 during week commencing 19 February 2024. There has been some variation in the timing of pay award offers due to differing governance processes and arrangements across Non-Departmental Public Bodies and Scottish Government departments.
