Question reference: S5W-29807
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 9 June 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 June 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to protect cancer treatment capacity, in terms of (a) infrastructure and (b) staff, in the event of a second surge of COVID cases.
Answer
On 4 June 2020, I announced the Framework for Recovery of Cancer Surgery to assist NHS Scotland prioritise those most in need of cancer treatment. The Framework sets out how health boards should prioritise cancer surgery as NHS Scotland resumes more services following the pandemic.
We are also utilising capacity within the Private Sector to provide a safe and secure COVID free environment for cancer surgery.
The Scottish Government is doing everything it can to ensure we have sufficient numbers of staff on the ground who are well supported in these challenging times.
Alongside setting up a Health and Social Care Covid-19 Recruitment Portal, accessible through the NHS Careers website, we are taking the following mitigating actions:
• re-introduction to the workforce of those leaving the medical and nursing practitioner registers in the last 3 years;
• redeploying existing staff from non-clinical areas to clinical roles where possible.