Question reference: S5W-34565
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 13 January 2021
-
Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 February 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that people who employ carers and social care personal assistants using direct payment packages can afford the PPE they require and purchase it without the risk of overspending their package budget.
Answer
As at 19 January 2021, over 4.8 million items of PPE had been distributed free of charge via the PPE hubs to unpaid carers and PAs to support the additional need for PPE as a result of pandemic.
The Scottish Government is providing additional funding across health and social care services to recognise the additional costs of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including in relation to PPE, and ensure safety remains the top priority at all times. If a direct payment holder has concerns about being able to meet the costs of the PPE recommended for those in caring roles during the pandemic within their direct payment, they should contact their Health and Social Care Partnership to discuss.
The Scottish Government (via NHS National Services Scotland (NSS)) is also providing top-up and emergency provision of PPE from the national stock to ensure that staff, PAs and unpaid carers have the PPE they need. This is being supplied through two routes:
1. local PPE Hub(s) in every Health and Social Care Partnership area where providers, PAs/their employers and unpaid carers can access PPE if they cannot get it through their normal routes, and
2. a central social care PPE support centre dedicated to urgent need, that can be accessed in emergency situations.
In order to find out the details of their local Hub and how to access it, people using a direct payment to employ PAs or carers, or PAs and carers themselves, can contact their Health and Social Care Partnership or phone the NSS Social Care PPE Support Centre on 0300 303 3020. This information is also set out on the Scottish Government website .