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The Scottish Government is working closely with NHS Boards during the pandemic to monitor the impact of Covid-19 on demand and capacity and is responding where required.

On 25th March the Chief Scientist Office also launched the Rapid Research in Covid-19 (RARC-19) Funding Call. This is supported by nearly £5 million of funding from the Scottish Government. As part of this, the Scottish Government is funding projects which will help us understand the mental health impacts of the pandemic on the population, including on vulnerable groups.

We expect people are going to need a variety of supports through the crisis. That is why we are investing £3.8 million on extending telephone and digital mental health support and a further £1 million on rolling out Distress Brief Intervention support across Scotland. We are also working closely with the Boards on the delivery of existing services within the context of the current constraints.

Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, psychology staffing had been steadily increasing with enhanced investment. NHS Education for Scotland is currently delivering the Health and Social Care Covid-19 Accelerated Recruitment Portal, which will enable a speedy deployment and employment of workers across the Health and Social Care workforce as they are required.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28198 on 27 April 2020.

I am leading work to ensure a range of mental health and wellbeing support is in place for NHS and social care staff, complementing the work being taken forward by NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships at a local level.

Social media, including twitter, is being used by the Scottish Government, NHS Education for Scotland and other partners to promote wellbeing advice.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government plans to expand the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) service across the entire country in response to COVID-19. Prior to the COVID pandemic, DBI was already operating as a pilot in rural and urban areas, in the Scottish Borders, Aberdeen, Inverness and North and South Lanarkshire. The Scottish Government is working proactively with the DBI Central team (based at NHS Lanarkshire) and other partners to set in hand the practical arrangements for the expansion to go live over the coming few weeks. The additional commitment to support this is £1,038, 284 in the current financial year.

Public Health Scotland collects IVF Waiting Times data for first cycle to screening appointment within the confines of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. Information regarding IVF can be found in the IVF waiting times section of the Public Health Scotland website at https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/healthcare-resources/waiting-times/ivf-waiting-times-in-scotland/

NHS IVF Centres have contacted all patients who have been affected, offering support and confirming that treatment is temporarily paused.

The Scottish Government released the Clear Your Head campaign on 21 April. The campaign looks at simple steps people can take to protect their own mental health and to look after loved ones.

The Scottish Government will provide an additional £75,000 of funding to Parentline Scotland , which will provide vital support to parents, including advice on how to support their children experiencing anxiety regarding COVID-19.

The Scottish Government’s ParentClub website remains the key portal for clear and simple advice for parents and carers, including specific content to support parents on effectively communicating and managing any anxiety that their children may be experiencing due to COVID-19. The ParentClub includes a wide range of relevant information for families including supporting children’s (and parents’ and carers’) mental health and relationships as well as guidance and tips for learning and play at home.

Mental health legislation in Scotland provides for rigorous safeguards in respect of individuals’ human rights which include that any function should be carried out for the maximum benefit of the patient, with the minimum necessary restriction on the freedom of the patient.

Scotland has a robust model of inspection and participation in international measures which contribute to an assurance that human rights are realised and that adequate services are provided. The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (MWC), along with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland, as well as other organisations, are members of the UK National Preventive Mechanism, which ensures that the UK fulfils its obligations under UN treaties to monitor places where people are detained, prevent ill-treatment, and ensure detention is consistent with international standards.

In addition the MWC carries out local visits to places of detention and mental health services across Scotland. They look at facilities to check that the care and treatment provided meets the needs and respects the rights of the individuals using these services. They undertake thematic reviews jointly with partners such as the Care Inspectorate to ensure a joined up approach to checking that the care provided in different settings is appropriate.

Clinical research in any area which may potentially have implications for clinical practice is considered by The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network as part of their regular processes for reviewing the need for and updating clinical guidelines for NHS Scotland.

The 2018 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence dementia guideline includes an evidence-based assessment of the benefits and risks associated with the prescribing of antipsychotic medications to people with dementia. The guideline does not identify an increased risk of premature death from prescribing antipsychotic medication in these circumstances.

The Scottish Government’s Dementia Standards are clear that people with dementia have the right to receive a full range of therapeutic interventions to help alleviate stress and distress and that psychoactive medications including antipsychotic medications should only be used if no alternative interventions are available. Carers should be fully involved in discussions on the use of such medications including their benefit and associated risks.

Mental health law in Scotland is based on rights and principles and offers patients significant safeguards where compulsory treatment is necessary. Anyone carrying out functions under the Act must have regard to certain principles, including having regard to the present and past views and feelings of the patient, the importance of the patient participating as fully as possible and carrying out functions that involves the minimum restriction on the freedom of the patient as is necessary. Additional safeguards include access to independent advocacy and the ability to appoint a named person.

While detained in hospital, patients may have capacity to consent to treatment and the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 sets out safeguards around obtaining consent and the strict procedures around giving treatment where consent is not given or is refused. Specific treatments authorised by the 2003 Act, or the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 may only be given in accordance with the range of additional safeguards set out in part 16 of the 2003 Act.

Service providers have a duty to inform the independent Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) if someone has been detained. The MWC has a statutory duty to ensure that the care, treatment and support for people with mental illness is lawful. Section 11 of the 2003 Act gives the MWC the power to carry out investigations in a number of specific circumstances, including unlawful detention.

On 30 March 2020, the Scottish Government announced a temporary pause to a number of national screening programmes, including the screening programmes for bowel, breast and cervical cancer. The decision followed careful consideration of all of the risks involved and advice from the Chief Medical Officer, Directors of Public Health and NHS National Services Scotland.

The announcement included NHS NSS’s modelling of the estimated number of scans and cancer diagnoses that would be delayed as a result of a three-month pause, based on the most recent figures available to Information Services Division:

• 248,177 patients received bowel screening, of which 220 diagnosed with cancer.
• 46,596 patients received breast screening, of which 291 diagnosed with cancer.
• 101,963 patients received cervical screening, of which 70 diagnosed with invasive cancer.

These figures are published here: https://news.gov.scot/news/health-screening-programmes-paused

All screening programme boards are meeting virtually throughout the pause, and these have already begun to capture the detail of the impact of the pause on each of the cancer screening programmes.

The Scottish Government does not record deaths in Scotland. Drug-related deaths are recorded by the Courts in Scotland and official statistics on these deaths are published annually by National Records of Scotland (NRS). The most recent set of NRS statistics was published in July 2019.