Question reference: S5O-04443
- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 17 June 2020
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Current status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 25 June 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government when podiatry services, including nail cutting, will be made available again to people with diabetes and other serious conditions.
Answer
In recent years podiatry services across Scotland have been redesigned to ensure that patients with the most urgent clinical need are seen by a registered podiatrist and those that require personal footcare are redirected to a more appropriate service. Throughout the lockdown, those with the most essential or urgent clinical needs have continued to be seen.
On 31 May 2020 we 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. They will do this over the coming weeks and months, whilst continuing to protect emergency, urgent and maternity care, as well as retaining sufficient capacity for COVID-19. The reality is COVID-19 is likely to be with us for some time to come, and so the framework seeks to ensure that the successful steps taken to maintain services during the pandemic are learnt from and built upon.
We anticipate that Private Podiatry and Foot Care Practitioner services in the Community will resume during phases 3 and 4 of the easing of restrictions.