Resilience committee on health pressures

The Scottish Government’s resilience committee (SgoRR) has met again to discuss the impact of winter on NHS and social care, chaired by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Pressures on the system remain acute, despite a slight improvement in A&E waiting time statistics published this week.

The First Minister heard updates on rates of respiratory illness, levels of hospital capacity and actions to alleviate delayed discharge. This includes a nationwide re-assessment of hospital patients who are clinically safe to be discharged, so they can be moved home or to a homely setting as soon as possible.

The meeting was also attended by the Deputy First Minister, Health Secretary and other cabinet ministers, along with the Chief Medical Officer and senior representatives from NHS boards, COSLA, Integration Joint Boards and the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf will also meet NHS24 recruits in Cardonald later today. The trainees are part of around 200 new staff who are set to join the service by the end of March, helping to ensure adequate resource continues to be in place to respond to calls from the public.

The First Minister said:

“There is no doubt that we are still seeing very acute demands across most of the health and social care system.

“That means it remains important to continue to pursue every avenue to improve the flow of patients through hospitals, and to ensure people are able to safely leave when they are fit for discharge.

“The measures discussed at SGoRR today are all helping to address these issues, but we remain indebted to the incredible efforts of staff right across the health and social care system for their commitment and hard work during this extremely challenging winter.”