Question reference: S5W-29809
- 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 assessment it has made of potential inequalities in access to treatment if treatment, in particular, surgery, is increasingly being delivered on a limited number of COVID-19-free sites, and how it plans to mitigate any such inequalities.
Answer
We recently published our framework for re-mobilising our health services, Re-mobilise, Recover, Re-design. The framework sets out how Health Boards will follow national and local clinical advice to safely and gradually prioritise the resumption of some paused services over the coming weeks and months, as well as retaining sufficient capacity for COVID-19.
As services are restarted, patients will be seen on the basis of their clinical need, and NHS Boards will take account of all national guidance and policy frameworks, including those relating to infection prevention and control, testing and the provision of PPE, to ensure the safety of all patients.
However, coronavirus will be with us for some time to come, and restarting paused services have to be measured against the need to keep the virus under control, continuing to protect the NHS, and save lives.