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The Scottish Government has confirmed additional funding of £1.1 billion to support the health and social care sector in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding announcement provides support for the additional costs reported by Boards in responding to COVID-19, including additional staffing and equipment costs included in Local Mobilisation Plans. Detail on how this funding has been used to specifically support virtual pulmonary rehabilitation services, and to supplement existing baseline spend on respiratory services, would require to be requested from NHS Boards.

Detail on funding for each NHS Board area is set out in response to question S5W-32107 on 29 September 2020. Further funding will be made available in the coming months following our ongoing reviews of financial implications across the sector . 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 .

Scottish Ministers’ expectation remains that care for pregnant and postnatal women continues to be an essential service, and it is right that Health Boards should plan for these services to continue alongside other essential services during this unprecedented time. Their expectation is also that midwives, obstetricians and the wider maternity and neonatal workforce should not normally be redeployed out with these settings for the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Any decisions taken about the deployment of obstetrics and gynaecology staff within NHS Scotland services are the responsibility of relevant Health Boards.

The Chief Medical Officer issued guidance to people on the shielding list who live in areas that went to level 4 on 20 November on going to work, school and childcare.

The new framework sets out our strategic approach to suppress the virus. https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-scotlands-strategic-framework/ .

As the levels in a local area change, the protection advice for people on the shielding list in that area will change as well. People at highest risk should still follow the advice for the general public as a minimum, but these levels provide additional advice for areas like work, schools, shopping and contact with others.

Support is available for those at an increased risk. Guidance on support and information is available on the Scottish Government website. Detailed guidance is available on Coronavirus: Guidance on support, information, food and other essentials and includes

• Help with food and shopping
• Accessing essentials and support
• Gift card schemes
• Food boxes and prepared meals
• Food delivery services
• Other sources of support

The advice, even at level 4, is that people can continue to shop for themselves, and we have provided checklists to ensure people can do so safely, In addition, six supermarkets (ASDA, Iceland, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose) have agreed to extend priority access to everyone who was on the shielding list as of 20 November 2020. Details of how to register for this service were issued to everyone on the shielding list in tier 4 on Friday 20 November. A further communication on how to register for the service was issued to everyone on the shielding list (in the week commencing 24 November 2020). This service does not guarantee a delivery slot, which will be dependent on availability, but provides access to view booking slots further in advance.

We suggest people should ask family, friends or neighbours to get essential items like prescription medicines. They can also ask their pharmacy if they can deliver their medicines to your home.

If people are unable to do either of these things or are unable to access the essentials they need, and have no support available to do so, they should contact the national helpline on 0800 111 4000 .

£15 million has been made available to local authorities entering level 4 restrictions, to enable them to support the needs of people in their communities who don’t have support networks and are struggling with the new restrictions or guidance at protection level 4. This may be used to provide support with access to food or medicine or other emerging needs.

The NHS Scotland and Social Care Coronavirus Life Assurance Scheme 2020 was introduced to ensure that no qualified person was discouraged or prevented from returning to service in NHS Scotland as a result of the pandemic, and ensure that all staff have peace of mind at this time. The scheme was subsequently extended to cover university students on health programmes who undertake clinical placements as part of their course – this includes nursing and medical students.

The Scottish Government has recently confirmed the life assurance scheme is being extended to also cover college students studying HNC Care and Administrative Practice and HNC Healthcare Practice, while undertaking placements in health and social care settings. This will ensure that clinical placements can progress as planned.

The Seasonal Flu Immunisation Programme helps to protect the most vulnerable and alleviate pressure on the NHS. This is more important than ever this year, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those most at risk from the seasonal flu, who are already eligible to receive the vaccine are:

• Those aged 65 and over,
• Those who have an underlying health condition,
• Pregnant women,
• Health care workers,
• Young and unpaid carers,
• children aged 2-5 (not yet at school), and
• primary school pupils.

This year the Scottish Government expanded free eligibility for the seasonal flu vaccine to include:

• social care workers who provide direct personal care;
• household members of individuals who are shielding; and
• all those aged 60-64 (who are not already eligible) and with the intention to further expand to 59-55.

With the expansion some occupations, such as health and social care workers are entitled to the free seasonal flu vaccine, this is because they come into contact with a higher proportion of people who are vulnerable to the seasonal flu. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, there is pressure on the global supply of seasonal flu vaccine and those at the greatest clinical risk must continue to be prioritised. Therefore school staff who are at higher risk from flu will already be eligible to receive their flu vaccination and will be contacted by their Health Board letting them know where they will receive the vaccine and how to book their appointment.

The Scottish Government does not hold information in this form.

The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board provides strategic leadership of a £50m investment in perinatal and infant mental health. Within this, services directly towards infants aged 0 to 3 years are being developed across Scotland. Over £800,000 has been invested in infant mental health this financial year.

NHS Boards draw funding for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) from the overall health and social care funds allocated to them by the Scottish Government. Boards work with the Integration Joint Boards in their area and other partners to ensure funding decisions reflect local and national priorities for the delivery of person-centred, safe and effective mental health services.

Detail on mental health spending and the NHS budget is made available each year as part of the annual NHS Costs Book publication and the Scottish Budget, this includes CAMHS expenditure data by NHS Board. I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-26493, which details this expenditure from 2011 until 2019. The 2019-20 data is expected to be published on 19 January 2021. However, CAMHS expenditure data is not available broken down by age.

The NHS Louisa Jordan was established to help ensure NHS Scotland had extra capacity to treat patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and stood ready to do so since 20 April 2020. Building the NHS Louisa Jordan was a precautionary action and I was always clear that I hoped it would never be needed to treat a COVID patient. The NHS Louisa Jordan has not been required to treat COVID-19 patients because of efforts made to suppress the virus. If required, the hospital continues to remain ready to accept COVID-19 patients at a few days’ notice.

Safety of staff in schools is paramount. Teachers are entitled to feel safe at work and we expect schools and local authorities to make sure appropriate arrangements are in place for them.

Our latest guidance on reducing coronavirus (COVID-19) risks in schools, published on 30 th October, says schools and local authorities should follow the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists advice to try to keep the risk of exposure as low as is practically possible to pregnant women, particularly in the third trimester. Normal pregnancy risk assessments should also be undertaken, and appropriate attention paid to mental health and wellbeing.

We are working with local authorities to keep implementation of the guidance under review, and where there is a need to take further action, we will work with staff, trade unions and local authorities to do so.

Since 1 November dentists have been permitted to offer the full range of NHS care in surgeries. With the resumption, dentists providing NHS care are required to submit claims for items of treatment undertaken to National Services Scotland. This information will be used to monitor the impact on current service provision.

The diagnosis of oral cancer is monitored through hospital data. The patient pathway for oral cancer was maintained throughout the pandemic. Despite a reduction in dental services on account of the COVID-19 outbreak ensuring that people have access to cancer services has always remained a priority. Dental practices have continued to triage patients during the pandemic and, in accordance with the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) guidelines, refer patients with symptoms of oral cancer for urgent assessment.