Chamber and committees

Additional funding of £1.08 billion has been confirmed through the Scottish Budget for health and care for 2021-22 to support the response to the pandemic.

From this, the Scottish Government is providing an initial £380 million to NHS Boards in 2021-22 to meet ongoing costs associated with Covid-19. This includes funding for PPE, Test and Protect and delivery of Covid-19 vaccinations.

The Scottish Government will continue to ensure that our health and care services have the funding that they require to respond to this pandemic, and will make available further additional support following our detailed Quarter One financial review.

Details of funding allocations to NHS Boards are set out in the following table:

Dental check-ups for all NHS patients in Scotland were made free from 1 April 2006. Throughout the pandemic dental teams have been advised to prioritise NHS patients, including new mothers, on the basis of their dental care needs.

First, it is important to note that there has been no change in the Scottish Government policy on the remuneration arrangements for independent contractors or those working within a primary care settings participation in the COVID Vaccination programme.

The guidance for community pharmacy contractors was published on 26 November 2020 along with guidance for the other primary care contractor groups. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/pca/PCA2020(P)26.pdf.

The guidance sets out the details to allow Health Boards to enter into arrangements with contractors to participate in the vaccination programme with those listed on the appropriate contractors / performers list.

In the case of community pharmacy, it is those entities listed on the Boards Pharmaceutical List to provide pharmaceutical services on behalf of the Health Board, in accordance with the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 and the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

Existing regulations do not currently provide for the provision of performers listing for the pharmacy profession and as such the remuneration arrangements for participation in the vaccination programme put in place for community pharmacy contractors does not apply to individual employees or self-employed locum pharmacists.

However, it would appear that some Health Boards applied the nationally agreed rate for community pharmacy contractors inappropriately to those self-employed locum pharmacists.

It is important to note that individual employees or locum pharmacists have not been removed from participating in the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Their skills are needed in this public health emergency and we would encourage those who are able to contact their local Health Board expressing their interest of joining the programme.

Each Health Board have arrangements in place for healthcare professionals, including pharmacists to support the roll out of the programme as vaccinators, while work is taken forward to build a sustainable vaccination workforce.

The specific arrangements may vary from Board to Board but in principle the individual would be recruited to the NHS Board Bank at the Agenda for Change Band 3 or 5 depending on the vaccinator role undertaken. However, some health boards may be offering sessional payment to individual locum pharmacists.

Information regarding funding amounts provided to community pharmacy contractors to provide COVID-19 vaccinators is not held centrally. The employment and deployment of COVID-19 vaccinators, including pharmacists, is a matter for individual Health Boards. To support them in this regard, the Scottish Government has agreed a sessional rate of £231 for pharmacist contractors participating in the programme. Each session covered by the rate lasts 3.5 hours.

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) continue to work with health boards to support their planning and the safe delivery of immunisation services during the pandemic.

In Scotland, there is no 18 month target for second dose as the JCVI recommends a schedule of 0, 6-24 months for all HPV vaccines. Further information can be found in The Green Book Chapter for HPV. Additionally, the data for HPV immunisation programmes is collected by NHS Board reflecting that NHS Boards deliver the HPV immunisation programme to pupils.

The latest HPV immunisation statistics published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) for academic year 2019/20 show that uptake for the HPV vaccine remains high. Further information is available online on the PHS website: HPV Immunisation Statistics Scotland 22 December 2020 - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org)

Public Health Scotland collate data on the HPV vaccination programme for the previous school year every autumn. Data for school year 2020/21 will be collated in autumn 2021 and published in November 2021. Therefore, we cannot provide information on the most recent school year.

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) continue to work with health boards to support their planning and the safe delivery of immunisation services during the pandemic.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that pupils who were not offered the HPV vaccine (first or second dose), or who missed the immunisation sessions at their school, will be offered the vaccine during planned catch-up sessions arranged by their health board, as soon as is practicable, now that Scottish schools have re-opened fully.

Young people and their parents can therefore be reassured that if they have missed their HPV, Meningitis ACWY or Tetanus/Diphtheria/Polio booster vaccines, these will be rescheduled.

Information on the status of the 2020-21 routine and catch-up HPV programmes, by NHS Boards, will be gathered by Public Health Scotland by end of August.

As part of the wider recovery from the pandemic, the Scottish Government launched the Framework for Rehabilitation & Recovery from COVID-19 in August 2020. The Framework puts in place clear principles, priorities and objectives to support increasing demand and to provide high quality person-centred rehabilitation in different settings.

The Framework will closely align to existing rehabilitation pathways and strategies and a Once for Scotland Approach will be developed and provide a practical, accessible strategy to deliver quality rehabilitation to everyone who needs it.

Our overall vision is for everyone with rehabilitation needs to be able to access the care and support to live well on their own terms.

Remobilising and supporting our NHS remains a priority and we will shortly publish our NHS Recovery Plan that will clearly set out how we will continue to support all patients to receive the highest quality of care.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information as the rostering of vaccinator shifts is a matter for individual NHS Health Boards.

Further to previous question - 'To ask the Scottish Government what the total catch is that has been landed by domestic and foreign vessels in Scottish ports in each month between (a) January and May 2020 and (b) January and May 2021.'

Data broken down to Domestic and Foreign vessels.

Provisional monthly data on landings (liveweight tonnes) by UK and Non-UK vessels into Scottish ports, January-May 2020 and January to April 2021

The chief officers of health and social care partnerships were provided with a link to guidance on the Scottish Government website regarding the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 and Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020. This was provided on 7 April, the day all of the provisions in the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 came into force, apart from those relating to the easements to s.13ZA of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. Chief officers were advised of the relevant pages that contained guidance on adults with incapacity changes. That guidance made clear that the easements to s.13ZA would only come into force when and if Ministers approved its use by invoking regulations. This would be strictly only when evidenced as being absolutely necessary. These regulations did not come into force.