Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 19 May 2022
Before I was elected to the Parliament, and in the early stages of my career, I was a journalist. I used to sit in galleries much like the one that we have in the Parliament, looking at the demeanour of ministers and trying to work out what adjectives I might use to describe it. Today, I would say: sheepish and squirming. We have waited months for a debate and an announcement from the cabinet secretary about long Covid, and it simply was not worth the wait. Promises have been recycled, money has been reannounced, past pledges have simply been polished up again, and there has been a shocking level of complacency.
Too many people who have fought to be heard and are suffering from long Covid are suffering the consequences, and are waiting for answers and solutions from the Government. SNP ministers must now finally get on top of the long Covid crisis, because the condition is affecting nearly three in every 100 Scots. If the cabinet secretary does not act, the situation will spiral out of control and will have very serious knock-on consequences for other services in Scotland’s NHS.
Last year in our policy paper, the Conservative Party called for the creation of long Covid clinics and a co-ordinated approach to the disease across health and social care in Scotland. The findings of our report were supported across the sector, and by third sector organisations such as Long Covid Scotland, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, Support in Mind Scotland and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. However, one year on, there are still no long Covid clinics, and there is still no co-ordinated response to the disease in Scotland.
The cabinet secretary said in his statement that long Covid clinics do not work; however, in the motion that he put to the Parliament, he said that
“The Parliament ... recognises the role of NHS boards ... to design models of care ... including long COVID clinics”,
so it is in his own motion.