Meeting of the Parliament (Virtual) 15 October 2020
I thank the First Minister for the advance sight of her statement—[Inaudible.]—myself and my party to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives in recent days.
In the past week, we have seen outbreaks of Covid closing wards at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital in Glasgow and the Western general hospital in Edinburgh. The Edinburgh outbreak, in my constituency, has been particularly devastating, focusing—[Inaudible.]
—visitors to patients in other wards and those who are being treated in the affected ward itself—[Inaudible.]—by definition immunosuppressed and being told that they cannot leave a ward where Covid is present.
Investigations are under way to establish how the virus was brought on—[Inaudible.] No one would seek to prejudge the outcome of those investigations and, given what we have seen of isolation and end-of-life care during the pandemic, we would not seek to further restrict loved ones from being at patients’ bedsides in such circumstances. However, patients, staff and visitors need reassurance that everything possible is being done to stop the transmission of Covid within hospital settings and to ensure that, as far as possible, those who may be asymptomatic do not bring the infection on to hospital estates.
[Inaudible.]—outbreaks, issues have been raised—[Inaudible.]—checks and controls once people have come on to each campus. Can the First Minister say whether further infection control measures, such as temperature testing, are being considered on a ward-by-ward basis across Scotland’s hospitals?