Seòmar agus comataidhean

As outlined to you in my letter dated 23 June 2020 we understand that this is a difficult time for parents and carers and know that many will be feeling additional pressures. The Scottish Government is working with a range of partners to support children and families and mitigate the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has on their mental health. We have made support and advice around mental health available for parents, carers and their children on the Parent Club website. This includes free access to Solihull Online, which is a resource which helps parents and carers to better understand their child’s emotional development and supports the development of healthy relationships. The resource is signposted on Parent Club, ParentZone and Clear Your Head.

Schools remain a key link for parents and carers in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people, including those with additional support needs. Through guidance staff or senior management they continue to be available to discuss any concerns about a child’s mental health.

Education Scotland have used national survey data to identify emerging anxieties which parents and families are facing during lockdown. This has resulted in a range of new content being developed on the Learning at Home section of ParentZone Scotland to address anxieties and concerns which are impacting on the wellbeing of families. These include resources relating to topics such as ASN, bereavement, mental health and transitions.

In addition, the National Parent Forum of Scotland has collated helpful resources for parents on their website. These include resources provided by Parenting Across Scotland as well as the Parentline helpline provided by Children 1st. There are also a variety of sources aimed at helping parents and carers to support the wellbeing of their children.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of Neighbourhood Watch schemes before 2012. In 2012, there were approximately 1,500 Neighbourhood Watch Schemes in Scotland and the most recent figures to June 2020 show that there are now 1,863 Schemes registered.

Since March this year, 42 new Watches have been registered. Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of people signing up to receive free ALERTS, both as individuals and as points of contacts for organisations, with total current figures at 25,730 individual registrations.

Care providers are expected to fully meet the standards required of them, including in respect of infection control and hygiene standards, and this is monitored by the Care Inspectorate working with other partners.

New arrangements to significantly strengthen oversight of Scotland’s care homes were published on 17 May. Clinical and care professionals at NHS boards and local authorities now have a lead role in the oversight for care homes in their area. Every Health Board and local authority has put in place a multi-disciplinary team comprised of key clinical leads and the area’s Chief Social Work Officer. These arrangements will help ensure clarity and consistency across the country about the role of Health Boards and local authorities in helping to keep care home residents and staff safe from coronavirus.

The Scottish Government has also stepped in to provide both top up and emergency provision of PPE to care homes and social care organisations to ensure staff have what they need so they and residents are fully protected.

In addition to this, the Scottish Government has provided initial funding of £50 million to help the social care sector deal with the financial implications of COVID-19. The funding is additional to the increase announced in the 2020-21 Scottish Budget and will help address immediate challenges and support ongoing provision of social care. We will continue to work closely with COSLA and NHS Boards to ensure that our frontline services have the resources needed throughout this pandemic.

This year our package of investment to support care services under integration will exceed £800 million.

Scottish Government officials have had and continue to have discussions with the other UK administrations on border health measures. These will be reviewed regularly and are informed by the best available scientific and medical advice.

Official delayed Discharge statistics, published by Public Health Scotland, show that during March and April over 3,500 delayed patients were discharged to the community, with 60% discharged home and 40% discharged to a care home.

Public Health Scotland define a delayed discharge as a hospital inpatient who is clinically ready for discharge from inpatient hospital care and who continues to occupy a hospital bed beyond the ready for discharge date. A number of these delays have extremely complex needs that require specialist care within the community, or are waiting for a Guardian to be appointed through the courts before the patient can be legally moved. At the April census these delays accounted for 34% of the total delays.

Delayed discharge management information is also now being published regularly on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-data-for-scotland/ .

The Covid-19 Community Pathway was established to alleviate the pressure on GP practices by providing a safe pathway for patients who are experiencing Covid-19 symptoms. Patients are triaged through the CoVID Hub and are seen at a Community Assessment Centre if this is deemed the most appropriate clinical outcome. From 1 June, the Community Assessment Centres will also test patients who are assessed as being symptomatic. There are currently 44 Community Assessment Centres operational across Scotland. The numbers of these Centres will change over time as the Health Boards review their activity level – this is a local decision for NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government does not currently hold data on numbers of tests carried out at each centre.

The list of assessment centres active as at 16 June 2020 is as follows:

1. The Lister Centre, Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock

2. Day Hospital, Border General Hospital, Melrose

3. Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, Dumfries

4. Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy

5. Stirling Community Hospital, Stirling

6. Aberdeen Community Health and Care Village, Aberdeen

7. The Oaks, Elgin, Moray

8. Woodside Health Centre, Barr St, Glasgow

9. Clydebank Health Care Centre, Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire.

10. Greenock Health Centre, Greenock, Inverclyde.

11. Renton, West Dumbartonshire

12. Linwood, Renfrewshire

13. MacKenzie Centre, Inverness

14. Robertson Centre, Alness,

15. Camaghael Health Centre, Fort William

16. Portree Hospital, Portree

17. Campbeltown Hospital, Campbeltown

18. Cowal Hospital, Dunoon

19. Islay Hospital, Islay

20. Jura Integrated Care Centre, Isle of Jura

21. Lorn and the Islands District General Hospital, Oban

22. Mid Argyll Hospital, Lochgilphead

23. Tarbert GP Surgery, Tarbert

24. Mull and Iona Community Hospital, Isle of Mull

25. Rothesay Victoria Hospital, Rothesay.

26. Helensburgh Victoria Integrated Care Centre, Helensburgh

27. The Old Health Centre, Wick

28. Migdale Hospital, Bonar Bridge

29. Airdrie Community Health Centre, Airdrie

30. Douglas Street Community Health Centre, Hamilton

31. Royal Victoria Building, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh

32. Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh,

33. OPD1 St John’s Hospital, Livingston

34. Bonnyrigg Health Centre, Bonnyrigg

35. Astley Ainsley Hospital, Edinburgh

36. Health Centre, Kirkwall, Orkney

37. Lerwick Health Centre, Lerwick

38. Kings Cross Hospital, Dundee

39. Perth Assessment Centre, Perth Royal Infirmary, Perth

40. Arbroath Infirmary, Arbroath

41. Links Health Centre, Montrose

42. Dental Centre, Stornoway

43. Uist and Barra Hospital, Isle of Benbecula

44. Castlebay Community School, Barra

The Scottish Government has supported Neighbourhood Watch Scotland (NWS) with grant funding since it was established in 2008, and with a grant of £115,000 this year which has helped to establish 42 new watches since mid-March.

This financial year, NWS has sent out 104 COVID-19 related alerts which have included information in relation to: community support and advice; specific scams; as well as reassurance messages reaching over 1.8 million individuals across Scotland.

The Scottish Government announced lockdown measures on 23 March 2020. From 25 March to 23 June 2020, there were 1,060 compassionate Level 1 interactions which resulted in referrals to DBI Level 2 service providers. This includes 41 referrals from the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub which became an additional referral route from 13 May 2020 for the Health Board areas of Lanarkshire, Scottish Borders, Grampian, and Highlands, and was extended to a national pathway across all Health Boards in Scotland on 8 June 2020. However, it is not currently possible to determine how many of those referred have fully engaged with DBI, as the data is not yet available.

The Scottish Government has provided additional funding to support NHS dentistry, as the majority of practices see mainly NHS patients.

Whilst we do have dental practices in Scotland that see only or mainly private patients, the significant expansion in NHS dental provision in recent years means that the majority of practices see mainly NHS patients.

For those practices that do provide some private dentistry, the Scottish Government has already confirmed NHS financial support should not be a bar for practices to claim from other funding sources more appropriately aligned with private dentistry.

On 18 March 2020 I announced a package of support worth £2.3 billion to limit the impact of COVID-19 on the business community. The new measures will be delivered during the 2020-21 financial year for non-domestic properties only. They include a 1.6% rates relief for all the properties across Scotland, effectively reversing the planned below inflation uplift in the poundage for 2020-21.

On 26 May I announced that we will extend eligibility for the current small business grants to small businesses that occupy shared premises where the landlord is the ratepayer. Eligible small businesses could apply for a £10,000 small business grant, administered by local authorities from 8 June.

Private dentists as self-employed individuals are subject to the same eligibility criteria to the support schemes put in place as any other self-employed individual in Scotland. They could have claimed grants under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if they are paid via PAYE. There is other support available including deferring VAT and deferring self-assessment payments on account, as well as the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.

The COVID-19 data and trend charts for Scotland are published daily and provide a range of information, including the number of care homes notifying cases of COVID-19 and the number of suspected cases of COVID-19 in care homes. The data also includes the daily number of people in hospital with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 but does not include details on how many of these are care home residents or staff.

The cumulative number of people tested and the number of positive and negative tests is also provided.

Weekly data on COVID-19 in adult care homes in Scotland is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-additional-data-about-adult-care-homes-in-scotland/

You can find figures updated every day at 2pm (including care home data) here: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Daily data for Scotland .