Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 25 November 2020
25 Nov 2020 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Covid-19 (Roll-out of Testing Programme)
I thank Mr Cameron for his important questions.
As Mr Cameron knows, we do not make testing mandatory. It is not mandatory for our NHS staff. There is a very straightforward reason for that: we want people to undertake testing voluntarily—particularly the lateral flow testing, which is much more straightforward and much less intrusive and difficult for people—because they understand the importance of and rationale for testing. At this point, we do not intend to make testing mandatory for care home visiting.
We need to continue our discussions with care home providers, through Scottish Care, to ensure that providers feel that testing—which they have asked for—gives them greater confidence about opening up more visiting for their residents.
There will be support for all care homes. The pathfinder approach allows us to work directly with care homes to provide training so that people understand how lateral flow devices work and to make sure that we get the logistics of kit delivery accurate and smooth. We will then use those homes’ experience to roll out the approach to colleagues who run other care homes. Training and support will be provided to all care homes as the lateral flow devices are provided to them. Of course, PCR testing is done through our NHS.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Linda Fabiani)
SNP
The next item of business is a statement by Jeane Freeman on the roll-out of a testing programme. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her...
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport (Jeane Freeman)
SNP
Last week in the chamber, I updated members on our plans to deliver Covid vaccinations. Today, I am grateful for the opportunity to provide an update on our ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. We are pushed for time, but I will allow around 20 minutes for questions.
Donald Cameron (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
I thank the cabinet secretary for the advance sight of her statement. We strongly welcome the further clarification of the expanded testing programme that h...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I thank Mr Cameron for his important questions. As Mr Cameron knows, we do not make testing mandatory. It is not mandatory for our NHS staff. There is a ver...
Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
On the surface of it, there is quite a lot to welcome in the statement, but the devil is in the detail. People have been promised a lot already when it comes...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I do not think that I promise a lot and then do not deliver. The reason why members are getting this update today and not at any other point—when it would ha...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We really are pushed for time, so I must insist on concise questions and answers.
Annabelle Ewing (Cowdenbeath) (SNP)
SNP
I, too, add my welcome to the significant expansion of the testing programme. What discussion has the Scottish Government had with NHS Fife and Fife Council ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
NHS staff will be able to access testing directly in their workplace or as close to their workplace as the health board and the Scottish Government can organ...
Brian Whittle (South Scotland) (Con)
Con
I would like some clarification of the cabinet secretary’s answer to Donald Cameron’s question. I appreciate that she cannot make it mandatory for everyone t...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I cannot really do that either. At the minute, care homes have to meet certain criteria before different levels of testing are permitted by the local directo...
Anas Sarwar (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
After eight months, this is progress, but—I am sorry—it is not good enough. Full care home testing will not be done until the end of February. That will be a...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Please get to your question.
Anas Sarwar
Lab
Will the cabinet secretary offer testing care home residents and their families to allow them to have loved ones close to them at Christmas, so that they can...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
If Mr Sarwar would like to read my statement, he will find that it answers his question. I will make another point. In February last year, NHS Scotland was ...
Alison Johnstone (Lothian) (Green)
Green
I am delighted that all front-line NHS staff working in health and social care are finally going to be giving given weekly testing, which is something that m...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
The commitment is not tentative. We have given a commitment that, in discussion with the Deputy First Minister, from the return of schools in January, there ...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
The news that lateral flow tests will be offered to students to confirm their Covid status before the journey home for Christmas will be a welcome reassuranc...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I think that I must have done something wrong when I was delivering my statement, because I did not hint at that at all; I said pretty clearly that testing w...
Stuart McMillan (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP)
SNP
I welcome the cabinet secretary’s statement on the routine testing of healthcare staff. Will that testing also include maintenance staff who may be required ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Yes, it will include estate staff, who undertake a number of roles and all of whom, at various points in their jobs, have to enter wards and other areas wher...
Jamie Greene (West Scotland) (Con)
Con
I welcome plans for rapid testing to get students home for Christmas. However, other young adults, many of whom have disabilities, live in other forms of res...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
The commitment that I can give is that I will talk to my colleagues the Deputy First Minister and Maree Todd to see whether there is anything that we can do ...
Joan McAlpine (South Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
The cabinet secretary knows that I have been calling for the testing of carers in order to protect people with learning disabilities, who have a high rate of...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I apologise if that was not clear in the statement either, but that work will begin from mid-January for the staff that Ms McAlpine referred to.
Colin Smyth (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I welcome the plans for a system of two lateral flow tests, three days apart, for students leaving their term address, but why has the Government so far reje...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Our clinical advisers continue to talk with the airport authorities in Scotland. They have not yet reached a final view or agreement on that, but that work i...
Dr Alasdair Allan (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)
SNP
Many of my constituents work in the oil and gas sector and they are typically asked to get tested before going offshore. However, because they cannot access ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I appreciate the points that Dr Allan made; he has made them before and I understand them. Two things are under way that might be of assistance in resolving ...