Hansard

The motion in my name

“notes the ongoing threat to life and health posed by COVID-19”.

Today, the First Minister informed the country that a further 64 people who had tested positive have now died from coronavirus. On behalf of Scottish Labour, I send condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones in recent days and throughout the pandemic.

Staff working right across health and social care are on the front line. We are all grateful for the care and support that they continue to provide to our constituents and our own friends and families. My motion calls on the Scottish Government to

“introduce routine weekly COVID-19 testing for all health and social care workers immediately.”

Eight months into the pandemic, it is unacceptable that such widespread testing is still not under way.

Healthcare workers are often characterised as heroes, but they do not have superpowers—they are human and they are at risk, too. That risk is to themselves, to their families and, of course, to the people for whom they care. Scottish Labour does not claim that testing is a panacea. We have consistently called for a package of measures, including improvements to personal protective equipment.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, national health service and social care staff have been asking for widespread testing to be carried out. Members of the Scottish Parliament, including Scottish Labour’s leader, Richard Leonard, have echoed their calls. I pay tribute to colleagues from other parties who have done so—including Alison Johnstone, for her persistent and consistent calls for mass testing.

Back in May, I asked the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport how many people had died after contracting Covid-19 in hospitals. We know that, during March and April, Covid-19 outbreaks led to ward closures and, sadly, the deaths of patients. We are now experiencing a second wave of the virus, and hospital-onset Covid remains a serious issue. According to figures published today by Public Health Scotland, there have been more than 1,200 definite and around 360 probable hospital-onset cases. Therefore, identifying and containing the virus in hospitals is crucial if we are to protect patients and prevent such incidences.

Last week, we heard reports about a man whose father had apparently died after contracting Covid in Glasgow royal infirmary. He believes that his father had been exposed to Covid patients there. In a BBC interview, Professor Jackie Taylor stressed the need to control infections within hospitals. She said that

“testing all patients at the front door

is important

“because many don’t have typical symptoms.”

She also talked about the need for a

“coherent strategy for testing staff”.

Scottish Labour supports Donald Cameron’s amendment, which concerns a key measure on contact tracing. We are concerned about tracing performance times. Later today, my colleague Jackie Baillie will ask an urgent question, following on from journalist Chris Musson’s diligent reporting on tracing times. We will also be very interested in hearing the cabinet secretary give more detail on measures that would support not only the approach that is sought in my motion but the one that is set out in her own amendment.

I will mention a few issues that stakeholders have highlighted prior to the debate. The Royal College of Nursing Scotland has said:

“As a minimum, testing should be universally available to all staff, irrespective of whether they present with symptoms or have been caring for patients with COVID-19.”

Scottish Labour agrees that such tests need to be both available and accessible to staff where and when they need them.

Scottish Care has said that the testing of social care staff remains absolutely critical—most importantly, as a mechanism for identifying and minimising Covid-19 outbreaks. It also highlights the importance of testing availability and, crucially, turnaround times. Further, it recognises that testing can support loved ones to visit their families safely, keep staff safe and enable people to get the care that they deserve.

I make a plea to the cabinet secretary. We need to hurry up and connect family care givers with their loved ones, because people fear that they are running out of time. Like Scottish Care, we welcomed the commitments in the adult social care winter preparedness plan, and we need to see progress being made. The Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland highlights that wellbeing is one of the health and social care standards that care providers are required to meet. A key element is that those who are being supported feel safe and protected from avoidable harm. Routine testing would help to support that element for both supported people and staff. That point was echoed in a recent Care Inspectorate report.

I recall that one of my constituents in North Lanarkshire who was receiving care at home before Covid and in the early part of the pandemic had different carers coming into her home and felt that it was a game of Russian roulette. People do feel frightened, cabinet secretary.

The CCSP also notes that testing of those who are being discharged from hospital into care settings other than care homes—to sheltered housing, for example—is not standard. Our motion would address that. Cancer Research UK again stressed the importance of having Covid-protected safe spaces in our hospitals, and I think that we all agree that that is a really important issue, because cancer is the leading cause of death in Scotland. We should have routine, frequent and rapid testing of all NHS staff in primary and secondary care.

I am out of time, but I hope that today’s debate is an opportunity to unite members in the chamber not just on the vital principle of expanding routine testing of all health and social care staff but on the need for urgent action. It is not enough just to praise our front-line healthcare staff; we need to protect them and the people they care for. Let us work together to make progress.

I move,

That the Parliament notes the ongoing threat to life and health posed by COVID-19 and the warnings of extreme winter pressures on the NHS, and calls on the Scottish Government to introduce routine weekly COVID-19 testing for all health and social care workers immediately.