Pandemic Ready: Safeguarding Our Future Through Preparedness

Chair’s Summary

As new national and international governance structures emerge, the Committee holds that the focus in Scotland should remain on what Scotland needs to do, as part of a broader, collaborative UK Four Nations and international response.

The key recommendations and core values from the Interim Report, published in August 2022, remain the focus of the Committee in this Final Report. This report therefore provides more details and makes specific recommendations.

Firstly, the Committee has contributed to work to articulate how the value and importance of collaboration could be bolstered by the establishment of a Scottish Pandemic Sciences Partnership (‘the Partnership’). This Partnership should connect excellence in Scotland’s academic and wider research communities, to ensure that planning for and response to the risk of future pandemics is informed by coordinated scientific advice and access to the latest research. Leadership, accountability and resources are vital, and the Partnership should be led by an independent Scientific Director, and should be hosted and supported by Public Health Scotland (PHS).

Secondly, the connections between the SG, public health agencies and research communities were never closer than during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. This report makes recommendations as to how the proposed Partnership should keep those strong connections and the directness of scientific evidence and advice in place. The aim is that the Partnership will contribute to a radical simplification of the emergency preparedness and resilience system in Scotland, and support enhanced connections between the UK and global community, for example by linking with any future bodies responsible for whole system preparedness and response.

Thirdly, while efforts have been made to improve Scotland’s data and healthcare analysis infrastructure, the Committee finds that progress has been fragmented and slow. The current ambition and objectives fall well short of what is needed, posing a significant risk to future pandemic responses. The Committee sets out recommendations for advancing this infrastructure, which will not only bolster pandemic preparedness but also offer broader benefits to Scotland’s healthcare system.

Fourthly, the report also revisits the importance of innovation and proposes that the Partnership should play a leading role in stimulating innovations relevant to pandemic preparedness through access to scientific research and engagement with the industrial science base and building on and developing our existing health research infrastructure.

Finally, the Committee stresses the need to integrate behavioural science, public involvement and engagement capabilities, and inequalities into all pandemic preparedness and response efforts. These considerations should be woven into all the work to prepare for and respond to pandemics, but the risk is they become an afterthought. The Committee makes specific recommendations to ensure they are embedded in future planning and delivery.

As with the Interim Report, these recommendations are deliberately not exhaustive. They are Scotland-focussed recommendations which should be connected to broader UK and international initiatives. The values underpinning these remain unchanged – partnership working with the institutions of public and civic life, and direct communication with the publics of Scotland remain key.

To finish, I would like to thank all current and former members of the Committee, the International Reference Group, and the Secretariat for their hard work and dedication to this work over the past few years.

Professor Andrew Morris CBE, MB ChB, MSc, MD, FRCP (Edin), FRCP (Glas), FRSE, PMedSci

Vice-Principal of Data Science and Professor of Medicine, University of Edinburgh

Director, Health Data Research UK

Chair – Standing Committee on Pandemic Preparedness