Seòmar agus comataidhean

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has not yet made a recommendation on the use of self-sampling in the national cervical screening programme. However the UK NSC continues to gather and evaluate evidence on the matter. Scotland is playing an active part in evaluating the benefits of self-sampling, through a study in NHS Dumfries and Galloway. We are taking the necessary steps to ensure that we can roll it out as soon as possible once a recommendation is made. Patient safety is our top priority and we will not act until we are assured it is safe to do so.

SEPA maintains a robust programme structure to plan, track, and deliver the regulator function for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), including delivery of a producer registration system. SEPA is making good progress in establishing this system in time to meet the January 2023 milestone that the Scottish Government published in December 2021.

Marine Scotland – Licensing Operations Team (“MS-LOT”) has recently received the written report from Seagreen Wind Energy Limited in respect of unexploded ordnance clearance activities. MS-LOT is currently conducting a review of the report and will publish on its website (marine.gov.scot) once this review is complete.

On 3 November 2020 the Scottish Government published a rapid review of outbreaks to learn lessons for practices within care homes Coronavirus (COVID-19): care home outbreaks - root cause analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

In doing so, the report collated and evaluated local level experiences and responses to COVID-19 outbreaks within care homes. It identified a number of recommendations to support working practices to prevent transmission of COVID. We continue to work to ensure the recommendations are implemented and have recently set up a working group to examine whether further work is required given where we now are in the pandemic.

Providing consistent high quality, safe and effective personalised care for people is our top priority for our health and care services. We continue to take a public health and a clinical evidence based response to the pandemic. In doing so, this continually ensures working practices are fit for purpose, for example Infection Prevention and Control, Personal Protective Equipment and Testing to Protect which continue to be of paramount importance as we come to deal with the impact of the pandemic and apply lessons learned.

In addition, to support the needs and wellbeing of the social care workforce and unpaid carers, we have put in place a combination of measures including working practices which were outlined in the Adult Social Care Winter Plan available at the following link: Adult social care - winter preparedness plan: 2021-22 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

As we look to the future and rebuild and remobilise our social care sector in Scotland, we have a significant opportunity to ensure that staff and users of social care people are placed at the centre of the recovery. We are proactively developing an Older People’s Strategy and a Healthcare Framework for adults and older people living in care homes. These principles will also be critical as we establish a National Care Service in Scotland.

Where it is clinically appropriate to do so, patients of all ages will be examined with a stethoscope to listen for breathing and heart sounds. They may also have ECG electrical recordings of their heart rate, blood tests and have access to other investigations such as Echocardiograms, rhythm monitors and blood pressure recordings, should these be required.

Primary care professionals have access to multiple sources of education and update regarding heart valve disease and management both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Through local interface groups local pathways to support diagnosis and management have been developed at board level with opportunities for specialist advice and rapid referral where required.

Scottish Government has no current plans to carry out a public awareness campaign on heart valve disease.

Digital stethoscopes can be purchased by any clinician.

The Heart Disease Action Plan recognises the need to ensure timely and equitable access to diagnostics, including echocardiography.

As set out within the plan, we are working to address key workforce issues relating to cardiac physiology. Cardiac Physiologists are healthcare professionals who are vital to the delivery of many aspects of cardiac care, including the provision of echocardiography.

Furthermore, we have also recently provided funding for the delivery of a pilot project to improve access to echocardiography. The learning from this will support us in understanding how best to further support improvement across Scotland.

Priority 2 within the Heart Disease Action Plan makes clear our commitment to developing nationally agreed pathways of care for all cardiac conditions.

This work is underway. It is led by our recently appointed Heart Disease Improvement Coordinator, who is engaging with clinical colleagues across Scotland to understand service provision, identify needs and collate examples of good practice to inform this programme of work.

Employers with ten or more staff are eligible to participate in the workplace asymptomatic testing programme. The programme allows participating organisations to offer COVID-19 testing to any individuals who work at the location, including employees, volunteers, contractors and agency staff. Agencies which meet the criteria can also enrol in the programme to provide their staff with tests. This includes agencies providing staff to the health and social care sectors.

If an employer or agency does not provide workplace testing, lateral flow device test kits are widely available to individuals through the universally accessible testing offer. Kits can be collected from test sites, pharmacies and local authority collection points, or ordered online for home delivery.