Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 19 May 2022
19 May 2022 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Long Covid
I very much welcome the Scottish Government’s recognition of the impact of long Covid and its commitment to help people who are suffering from that debilitating condition.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has pointed out that post-Covid-19 syndrome is an emergent condition and has made recommendations for further research on long Covid in numerous areas. Its guidance is continuously reviewed and updated as new evidence comes to light. It notes that the condition has a wide-ranging array of symptoms, the most commonly reported of which, as has been stated, include fatigue, breathlessness and brain fog.
Therefore, it is right that the Scottish Government is not suggesting that a one-size-fits-all approach be taken but is instead supporting a holistic, patient-centred assessment of need and a range of approaches to treatment.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Alison Johnstone)
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion SM6-04472, in the name of Humza Yousaf, on long Covid. I invite members who wish to speak to press their requ...
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care (Humza Yousaf)
SNP
I welcome the opportunity to discuss our collective commitment to supporting the health and wellbeing of people in Scotland who are living with the long-term...
Brian Whittle (South Scotland) (Con)
Con
I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for taking my intervention. Would he consider assessing certain types of long Covid as a disability, potentially bring...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
It is my understanding that, under current legislation, those who are suffering from the effects of long Covid could be termed as having a disability, depend...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for giving way, and for taking time, in his remarks, to talk about young people and children who suffer with long Covi...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
I ask the member to forgive me—I do not know if I have the figure for children. I will have a look at that, and come back to him; perhaps we will address tha...
Pam Duncan-Glancy (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
Can the cabinet secretary confirm whether that data collection will include data on inequalities in relation to the way that long Covid has affected differen...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
As I said in response to Alex Cole-Hamilton, I think that it absolutely should. I am being up front and frank about this: I do not think that we have the lev...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
Will the cabinet secretary give way?
Humza Yousaf
SNP
I will shortly. I have taken a fair number of interventions. That funding responds directly to needs that have been highlighted by boards and their learning...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
Could the cabinet secretary confirm for me—because I think that clarity is important—that the £3 million that he talks about as being additional is actually ...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
Yes, it is part of that £10 million fund, but what I mean by “additional” is that it is on top of what has already been spent to help to address and alleviat...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I call Sandesh Gulhane to speak to and move amendment S6M-04472.3. 15:09
Sandesh Gulhane (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
It is great that this key debate on long Covid has been rescheduled. However, given the growing scale of the problem, it is many months overdue. The cabinet...
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
Sandesh Gulhane has described his experience in the foothills of the pandemic. Does he recognise that people who had long Covid from the first wave perhaps d...
Sandesh Gulhane
Con
I agree absolutely. It is important that if we offer support to sufferers of long Covid, one of the key tenets should be that that should not depend on their...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
As Dr Gulhane is a clinician, he will be able to confirm that a person’s receipt of support for the long-term effects of Covid is not reliant on their having...
Sandesh Gulhane
Con
Absolutely. As I said, from the conversations that the cabinet secretary and I have had, I think that he agrees with us on that point. Long Covid is hitting...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
As others have said, the debate is long overdue, having been cancelled last month to spare the cabinet secretary’s blushes because not one penny of long Covi...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
Is Jackie Baillie seriously suggesting that our hard-working nurses, doctors and AHPs have not been treating people with long Covid? If they have been treati...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
That is so disappointing, because, even if nobody else knows this, the cabinet secretary knows that the NHS is stretched to breaking point. It is in crisis. ...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
Finally and belatedly, we debate this devastating condition in Government time. It is shameful that the SNP-Green coalition has made sufferers wait this long...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
We move to the open debate. 15:31
Evelyn Tweed (Stirling) (SNP)
SNP
I very much welcome the Scottish Government’s recognition of the impact of long Covid and its commitment to help people who are suffering from that debilitat...
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
I have heard several Government members say that a one-size-fits-all approach will not work, and that is right, but does Evelyn Tweed not recognise that, up ...
Evelyn Tweed
SNP
I do not agree, and I will come on to say why. The symptoms can be life changing, as Angela, a constituent of mine, told me. She said: “Last year I was lea...
Brian Whittle (South Scotland) (Con)
Con
I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in the debate. It has taken the Scottish Government too long to recognise, document and respond to long Covid, ...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
Does Brian Whittle accept that there is a mountain of evidence that long Covid clinics are inadequate, that they are ineffective and that they simply delay e...
Brian Whittle
Con
As I am about to go on to tell the cabinet secretary, what I am highlighting is not a new problem for the Scottish Government. Prior to the pandemic, Scotlan...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Please speak through the chair, Mr Whittle.