Question reference: S5W-29640
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 3 June 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 June 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government at what stage in the easing of lockdown restrictions physiotherapists will be able to return to work.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the important role that Physiotherapists play in maintaining the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland and while progress out of the crisis has not be as quick as any of us would have wished for, we must move forward at a pace that continues to protect public health.
As we move forward in Phase 1, it is important that we follow the spirit of the route map and support the key public health message to ‘stay at home as much as possible during phase 1’.
We appreciate that Physiotherapists will be anxious to know when each phase will start. However, it is not possible to be precise with the timings of when we will move into each phase. Indeed it may be that not all parts of each phase will be introduced at the same time.
Transition from one phase to the next will very much depend on the changes we see in the spread of the disease, only moving to a less restrictive phase if it remains under control and if we can keep the ‘R’ number below 1. By adopting the phased approach to restarting services and not encouraging significant numbers of people to travel for treatments or procedures that are not essential or urgent we will help to reduce the risk of potentially raising the value of R.