Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 19 May 2022
I welcome this opportunity to close the debate on behalf of Scottish Labour. I start by thanking all the people who have allowed us to share their stories, and those who have made the journey to the Scottish Parliament and are sitting in the gallery. I hope the Government will listen and react to the debate with some speed.
As other members have said, we have had to drag the Government to this point. After far too many delays, and despite long Covid being at the forefront of public debate, we have finally brought this crucial issue to the chamber. A debate on the topic was cancelled last month for, seemingly, no reason. All the while, the Parliament has been coming and going, yet the issue of long Covid has never been given the attention that it deserves. Let us hope that that ends today.
As we have heard from the debate so far, there is broad cross-party support for getting the situation sorted. Scottish Labour whole-heartedly welcomes that and hopes that we can get the next step in place.
For some people in Scotland, the Covid threat is dwindling, but for others its lasting consequences are part of their everyday lives. We must not forget that many of our families and friends are still suffering from the consequences of the past two years. In some cases, those consequences are drastic and life altering. Alex Cole-Hamilton put it vividly: it is a horrible disease. As Jackie Baillie and Alex Cole-Hamilton both said, children are suffering.
As many as 151,000 Scots are living with long Covid in one form or another, but their needs and concerns are rarely taken into account. The Government seems to avoid communicating with sufferers and support groups, and to avoid taking on board the points that they make. As many colleagues have noted, there have been a number of serious issues with the Government’s response to the emergence of long Covid; it only makes it worse for support groups and sufferers that they do not feel fully involved in decision making.
The £10 million long Covid support fund that was announced in September 2021 has yet to be fully delivered, which is a disservice to our hard-working NHS staff. Unlike other parts of the UK, we do not have a network of specialist clinics for people who are dealing with the symptoms of long Covid. There seems to be a reluctance even to consider the suggestion that we might learn good practice by looking at that.
There seems to be little or no occupational support for people who are suffering from long Covid to help them back into the workplace. I thank my colleague Mark Griffin for his comments on the importance of considering long Covid as an industrial injury—in particular, for our valued key workers. I look forward to the cabinet secretary responding to Mark’s comments.
We need answers as to why funds could not have been allocated directly to health boards in order to treat people who were already in pain much more quickly. We know that the money has not been allocated. Why were people who are suffering from long Covid not asked to play a much more active part in the design and implementation of plans? Why are we not properly considering the financial impact that the condition has on people who fall victim to it? I hope that the cabinet secretary can answer some of those questions, and I hope that he will respond to Emma Harper’s points about gender.
Those are serious considerations, yet most of the commitments that the cabinet secretary has made today are about the future and a vague long-term Covid plan. There is far too little detail about how we will help patients now. How will we help them? If we do not ensure that adequate measures are in place, there will be serious implications for our NHS, and the distress and discomfort of people who have long Covid will be extended.
Despite the under-50s being at lower risk of dying from Covid, there are high rates of complications from Covid across all age groups, including children. Long Covid is just one part of that.
Long Covid is a problem that we do not have a full grasp of yet, which is why it is so important that we develop expertise and ensure that health services and the scientific community work together in a co-ordinated manner. Although there is a broad willingness to do that, there is a serious lack of commitment and progress on it.
The reality of what Covid can do to a person—beyond the worst fate of all—is not discussed clearly in public life. The Government does not want it to be discussed openly. If the public were better informed about the potential consequences that arise from catching Covid, that would go a long way towards improving our ability to limit the virus.
Well-funded long-term research will improve our understanding of the lasting effects of Covid and help to identify effective treatments for all who suffer from it. Committing to such funding now will put Scotland at the forefront of that vital discussion, but it will not happen if we are seen as being behind the rest of Europe and unwilling to commit serious investment. Any future planning from the Government must respond to the immediate and long-term impacts of long Covid in Scotland, and not merely pay a measure of lip service.
To conclude, I say that positive steps are being considered here today, but is the cabinet secretary listening? Does the cabinet secretary really think that the long Covid support fund, which—as was mentioned by my colleague Jackie Baillie—equates to around £33 per person per year, is sufficient to tackle the problem? We all know that it is not, and that the issue is not being taken seriously enough by the Government.