The difficulty that frontline key workers are having in accessing COVID-19 tests has recently been the subject of much discussion in parliament and the media.
Occupational therapists across the UK play a key role in the fight against the pandemic, and the lack of testing is of huge concern to the Royal College of Occupational Therapists.
Commenting on the lack of testing, RCOT Chief executive Julia Scott said:“We have seen over the past few days significant concerns from all areas of the NHS, Social Care, Teachers and those front-line key workers who have struggled to get a COVID-19 test.
“As we see spikes in the infection rates and signs of a second wave, we have huge concerns about the accessibility of testing for occupational therapists and AHP’s on the front-line. In particular, those that work in social care settings, such as care homes, which as we know are extremely vulnerable to the worst impacts of coronavirus.
“Whilst it is positive that government ministers have suggested that the NHS is the top priority for testing, this is worrying for social care which was overlooked in the initial response to the pandemic. Occupational therapists for weeks and months were hampered in providing vital support, such as rehabilitation, to those that needed it due to the lack of guidance and access to personal protective equipment.
“The fact that some NHS staff, Care Workers and Teachers are already having to self-isolate because they cannot access a test within a reasonable distance in many parts of the country, is not good enough. This needs to be resolved in days and not ‘in a matter of weeks’ as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care indicated this week during urgent questions.”
This year, due to the ongoing need for physical distancing, Doors Open Days will be online. We hope you enjoy learning about our buildings from the comfort of your home.
The Edinburgh Doors Open Day 2020 gives you the chance to discover some of Edinburgh’s most unique and interesting buildings, which are normally closed to the public.
Across the weekend you can discover some fantastic sites across the city, completely free of charge and from the warmth of your own home – as this year’s event goes digital!
Celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year, this is your chance to explore some of Edinburgh’s most important buildings virtually. Many venues will offer behind the scenes tours, talks or exhibitions to bring the history of these monumental buildings to life.
Read about all of these places and more on the Doors Open Days website.
Hibernian FC takes part in ‘Challenge Poverty Week’ by ensuring no child goes hungry at Hermitage Park Primary School.
Hibernian Community Foundation are delighted to launch ‘Hibs Crunch and Munch’ with local partner school Hermitage Park Primary in an exciting initiative that will see every pupil at Hermitage Park Primary School receive a free piece of fruit every school day.
2020 has seen Hibernian Community Foundation and Hermitage Park Primary work together on a number of programmes which have supported pupils and families in the local area.
Throughout lockdown Hibs have provided weekend food parcels to pupils at home and developed digital educational resources to ensure learning can continue away from the class room. Hibs have also delivered ‘Score Goals’, an eight week project with primary 6 pupils with a focus on football, exercise and healthy eating.
Hibs Crunch and Munch will become a significant element of Hibs Class at Hermitage Park as the school aims to support pupils learning in the classroom in as many ways across a number of curriculum areas including literacy, numeracy, and wellbeing.
Hibs Crunch and Munch will also support Hibernian Football Club’s pledge to be the greenest club in Scotland as they have already identified ways in which extra resources can be shared. Over the summer Hibernian Community Foundation has saved over 2300kg of CO2 by sharing food that would otherwise go to waste.
Lisa Black, Deputy Head Teacher at Hermitage Park Primary School said: “We are proud to be a Hibernian partner school. The ‘Hibs Crunch & Munch’ is another example of how they are helping Hermitage Park Primary students thrive emotionally, socially and behaviourally.
“Hibs are helping us tackle childhood obesity, reduce playground litter and offer an opportunity for the pupils to develop social skills by sitting down together to eat the fruit.
“Hibernian Football Club has a long and proud tradition of working to support local communities and we are grateful to be supported by them”.
Charlie Bennett Hibernian Community Foundation CEO commented: ‘We’re really excited to be working with pupils and teachers at Hermitage Park and we’re pleased we can support the health and wellbeing of the pupils in this way.
“Like the school we want to ensure children in our communities are healthy and we hope the ‘Hibs Crunch and Much’ will make a significant contribution to this’.
Bill Kidd (Glasgow Anniesland) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the car parking arrangements at Ninewells Hospital, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary during the COVID-19 pandemic response.
S5W-32056
Jeane Freeman:On 30 March 2020, the three PFI hospital car park providers at Ninewells Hospital, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary agreed to remove car parking charges for staff, visitors and patients initially for the three months and extended further by additional three months until 30 September 2020.
The Scottish Government have now reached agreement with the three PFI hospital car park providers to extend the free car parking arrangements by a further four months until January 2021. This extension of free parking continues to support staff and remove the barriers to our staff working with the NHS during these unprecedented times.
Lothians Conservative MSP Miles Briggs said: “The extensions of free parking at PFI hospitals in Scotland until the new year is welcome news, but we need to see a long term solution to allow for free parking at all three PFI hospitals permanently.
“The lifting of parking charges shows that the removal of charges can be achieved and I will continue to work with MSPs of all parties to find a long term solution.
“This is now the second extension to the free parking charges without any clarity on what SNP Ministers are trying to achieve.
“Increasingly questions are being asked over the inability of SNP Ministers to secure a deal and whether value for Scottish taxpayers money is being achieved.”
There is no charge for parking at the Western General Hospital.
Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a media briefing in St Andrew’s House, yesterday (Friday 25 September):
Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us. Before I start this morning I want to acknowledge the dreadful news from Croydon in South London, of a police officer being shot dead.
The circumstances are obviously subject to investigation but I want to take the opportunity to convey my deepest condolences to all of the officer’s loved ones.
This is a heartbreaking reminder of the dangers police officers confront every single day on our behalf – and of the enormous debt of gratitude we owe them as a result of that.
And – especially with the Chief Constable of Police Scotland standing next to me – it is important for me to acknowledge that every day, but particularly in the wake of such upsetting and tragic news.
Let me now turn to the usual run-through of statistics for Covid today.
The total number of positive cases reported yesterday was 558.
This represents 9.5% of people newly tested and takes the total number of cases to 26,518.
The full regional breakdown will be published later, but I can confirm that 255 of the cases are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 119 in Lothian and 61 in Lanarkshire.
The remaining 123 cases are across nine other health boards.
Now, today’s figures are impacted by a number of university outbreaks – and I’ll say more about that later.
But notwithstanding this I also want to stress that no one should be under the impression that the Covid threat right now is just a university problem and that there’s no need for the rest of us to take this seriously.
Transmission of Covid is increasing generally across the country – and the increase in cases started before the return of universities. So the numbers right now are impacted by universities but it doesn’t change the fact that this is a risk that all of us need to take seriously and we all need to follow the advice.
I can also confirm that 89 people are in hospital – that is an increase of four from yesterday.
11 people are in intensive care, which is one more than yesterday.
And in the past 24 hours, no deaths have been registered of a patient who first tested positive over the previous 28 days.
I want to just insert one note of caution around that. National Records of Scotland who report those figures to us suffered a power outage this morning so it is possible that we will have to modify that figure later on but based on the information I have just now no deaths were registered over the past 24 hours.
That means that the total number of deaths, under the measure used in our daily figures, remains 2,510.
That total serves once again as a reminder once again of the overall impact of this virus. As usual I want to pass on my condolences to everybody who has lost a loved one.
I’m joined today by the Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, and our Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nicola Steedman. In a few minutes, the Chief Constable will talk about new restrictions that are now in place – and how they’ll be enforced. Dr Steedman will also talk about the importance of people going for their flu jabs in the days and weeks ahead.
The main thing I want to do today is to speak to Scotland’s students – and to set out what we are asking you to do right now, to help control the spread of coronavirus.
First, though, I want to draw your attention to an announcement that was made last night.
The Scottish Government has added four additional countries to the list of those that are subject to quarantine restrictions. Those countries are Denmark, Iceland, Slovakia and Curacao.
It means that from tomorrow, people travelling to Scotland from these places must self-isolate for 14 days, upon their return.
This is another reminder of how quickly levels of the virus – in any country or area – can change. So I’ll say again, please avoid non-essential overseas travel at the moment. In fact, please think carefully about unnecessary travel anywhere right now. That advice applies – not just now – but also to any plans you might have for the October school break.
Let me turn now to the main issue I want to address today. I want to send a message directly to university students – and indeed to parents, many of whom will be worried about their children at universities just now.
I’m not a parent but I am the devoted auntie of a boy who has just started university and is living away from home for the first time so I do have some insight into the anxiety that people are feeling right now.
The government is having to make some really tough decisions right now but none of us are immune from the impact of those decisions and we understand how difficult they are for people because we have families as well.
First thing I want to say direct to students is I’m so sorry that this time in your lives is being made so tough. I feel for all of you – but especially those of you just starting university and living away from home for the first time.
This is an exciting time in your lives but I can remember from my own experience, that this is also a time of adjustment and probably a bit of homesickness too. That would be the case without Covid, but I’m sure it’s much more difficult given the circumstance you are having to deal with right now.
And I want to also be clear, because I know some of you feel like you are somehow being blamed, you don’t deserve to be facing this – no one does – and it’s not your fault.
But – and this is just as important – this won’t last forever. And the quicker we get Covid back under control, the sooner you will get to enjoy a more normal student life.
So – I know it’s difficult – but please do what’s being asked of you just now.
Because although Covid is nobody’s fault – we all have to play our part in tackling it. And there is nobody across the country that is not touched by that, there are many families who haven’t seen loved ones in care homes for a considerable period of time, there are families across the country that are not able to spend time with each other right now. Everybody is feeling the effects of this but we all have to play a part to get through what we are facing.
There’s been a lot of discussion about the Universities Scotland advice that issued last night. So let me boil it down to the basics of what it is we are asking students to do.
Firstly if you live in student or shared accommodation, please don’t have parties and don’t socialise in your accommodation with people who are not in your household group.
I know the impact of this on students is a bit harder because of your shared living arrangements but this advice is actually no different to what we are asking of the population as a whole – to stay out of each other’s houses – and it’s because we know the virus can spread easily when different households mix together indoors in domestic environments.
And secondly, but just for this weekend, we are asking students to please stay away from pubs, restaurants and cafes.
The reason for this is that there are a number of campus outbreaks across Scotland and we want to do everything we can to stop them spreading further. And staying away from hospitality this weekend is one of the ways in which students can help.
The incubation period of this virus means that the exposure people have had in the last few days means that we will see campus cases continue to rise in the days to come. But if we take steps now to limit the interaction over the next few days we can help stem that flow and make sure outbreaks don’t spread any further. So that’s the reason for that advice this weekend.
After this weekend, we’ll ask the same of you as of everyone else. Try to limit your social interactions in pubs and hospitality but when you do go, you should be in groups of no more than six from a maximum of two households.
We are also asking students to download the Protect Scotland app. It isn’t mandatory – but it is strongly encouraged, and your university can ask you to do so – because, particularly when you may not know everyone you are meeting, it is an effective way of alerting people that they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid. In the last two weeks, more than 800 people have been notified by the app to isolate.
And lastly if you are asked to self-isolate as a student because you have tested positive or are a contact of someone who has, please follow the advice. It is really important.
In all of this, your university has a big responsibility to look after your welfare and make sure you are okay. I have spoken personally this morning to university principals, to stress their responsibilities to you – and I know this is something that they take seriously but it is also something parents will want to be assured of too.
Student services already have special arrangements in place, including 24-hour helplines, support for food deliveries, and additional mental health counsellors, for those who might need that support.
I am grateful to all of those – including the many student volunteers – who are helping to provide practical and emotional support in this way.
One final point I want to address today but we’ll say more about this over the weekend. We are aware that for some students who have been asked to self-isolate, they might be finding that situation so difficult that they want to go back to their family home to complete the period of self-isolation.
Now I’m going to be frank. That is a difficult balancing act because if you go home after you have been asked to self-isolate that will have implications for your family who may also have to self-isolate if oyu test positive. But I wanted to let you know today that we are looking at what might be possible there and it is our aim to issue some further guidance on that over the weekend.
The key point to stress is that help is there for you if you need it just now so if you need it please ask for it.
The final thing I want to say to students today is thank you. Thank you to all of you, just like everybody else across the country you are bearing a burden that I desperately wish you didn’t have to be bearing right now but you are being part of our collective effort to beat Covid back. And for that you have my thanks and deep appreciation.
Now, I’ve focussed primarily today on what is being asked of students and I think it’s important that we do focus on that today. But of course, all of us have a role in getting this virus back under control.
The regulations for the new household and hospitality restrictions come into force today. And as I said earlier, the Chief Constable will say a few words about their enforcement, shortly.
For now, I want to remind everyone of what the restrictions are.
With some limited exceptions, none of us should be visiting each other’s homes at the moment.
Outdoors or in public indoor spaces, we must not meet in groups of any more than six people from a maximum of two households. Children under 12 are not included in these limits outdoors so they can play with their friends and young people aged 12 to 17 are exempt from the two household limit they can meet outdoors in groups of up to six but all six people don’t have to be from just two households.
From today, all hospitality premises will close by 10 pm to try to reduce the amount of time people are spending in licensed premises. Beyond that, we are asking people to limit visits to and social interactions in pubs and restaurants as far as possible.
These measures are tough, I know they are tough but they are necessary if we are to keep schools open, resume more non-Covid NHS services, keep care homes safe and protect jobs.
The danger – if we don’t act now – is that the virus will continue to spread, and even more severe or longer-lasting restrictions will be required later.
So please, follow the new rules – they will make a difference.
Limit your interactions with others.
Download the Protect Scotland app.
And finally, remember FACTS –
Face coverings
Avoid crowded places.
Clean hands and hard surfaces
keep Two metres away from other households.
and Self isolate, and book a test, if you have symptoms.
I don’t underestimate how difficult this is for everybody and it is more difficult six months in than it was even when we were under strict lockdown back earlier in the year but this is essential.
I we all pull together and do the right things for ourselves and each other we will get through it more quickly than we will otherwise.
My deep thanks to everybody for all of the sacrifices that you are making and perhaps particularly today because of the issues that I have been talking about my special thanks to students at our universities.
A new walk-through coronavirus testing centre has opened in Edinburgh. The new facility is being provided by the UK Government as part of a UK-wide drive to continue to improve the accessibility of coronavirus testing for local communities.
The centre, in the Usher Hall, will offer pre-booked tests for those with coronavirus symptoms.
The new site is situated so as to be easily accessible without a car. Those being tested will be required to follow public health measures, including social distancing, not travelling by taxi or public transport, practising good personal hygiene and wearing a face covering throughout, including while travelling to and from the testing centre.
Anyone attending an appointment at a walk-through testing will be provided with guidance on getting to and from the test site safely, with additional support for vulnerable groups and people with disabilities.
Testing at the new site started yesterday at 2pm, with appointments to be made available every day.
The latest UK Government site is part of the largest network of diagnostic testing facilities created in British history, which now comprises 75 drive-through sites, 112 walk-through sites, 258 mobile units, home testing and satellite kits and network of Lighthouse laboratories.
Testing is available only for those with coronavirus symptoms – a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, or a loss or change to sense of smell or taste.
Anyone with one or more of these symptoms should book a test at NHS Inform or by calling 0800 028 2816. From the start of the pandemic, testing has been prioritised for the most vulnerable, including patients in clinical settings and care home residents, vital health and care staff and to manage outbreaks.
Anyone testing positive for the will be contacted by contact tracers to help them trace their contacts. This will help people to identify who they may have been in close contact with, protecting others from further transmission.
Close contacts of those testing positive will also hear from contact tracers, asking them to stay at home for 14 days to prevent them from unknowingly spreading the virus. They will be advised to also book at test if they develop symptoms.
Health Minister Lord Bethell said: We continue to expand testing to make sure that everyone with symptoms can get a test, with our new walk-in sites making it even easier no matter where you live.
“This new site forms part of our national testing network, which has the capacity to test more than a million people a week and is growing all the time.
“If you have symptoms of coronavirus, I urge you to book a test today and follow the advice of contact tracers if you are contacted to protect others around you and stop the spread of the virus.
“This is a national effort and we are proud to be working with a number of partners to turn this ambition into a reality and roll out additional capacity to where it is needed.”
Baroness Dido Harding, Interim Executive Chair of the National Institute for Health Protection, said: “Our new walk through sites offer communities better access to coronavirus testing, so everyone with symptoms can get a test. This new site is part of our ongoing work to expand testing across the UK to deliver 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.
“Please book a test if you have coronavirus symptoms: a new continuous cough, a high temperature and a loss or change in sense of smell or taste.
“Everybody should continue to think hands, face, space, and follow the advice of contact tracers if you are contacted – this is the only way we can return to a more normal way of life.”
UK Government minister for Scotland, Iain Stewart, said: “The UK Government is committed to helping all parts of the UK fight coronavirus. We are providing the bulk of covid testing in Scotland, and this new walk-through centre in Edinburgh comes on top of nine other testing sites across Scotland funded by the UK Government, as well as the Glasgow Lighthouse Lab.
“Testing will play a vital part over the coming months, helping to manage local outbreaks and protect livelihoods. This walk-through centre will help people in Edinburgh have easy access to a test in the city centre.
“We are pleased to be working with commercial partners and with Edinburgh’s iconic Usher Hall. These sites are not possible without the hard work of many people and I would like to thank everyone involved for their incredible efforts.”
The testing centre is being operated in partnership with Mitie and will self-administered tests.
Simon Venn, Chief Government & Strategy Officer, Mitie, said: “Our priority during the pandemic is to support the nation’s efforts to fight COVID-19 and help keep the country running.
“Testing is a critical part of the UK’s strategy to combat coronavirus and we’re proud to support the UK Government with this vital task. A big thank you to all the NHS staff, Mitie employees and other frontline heroes in Edinburgh, who are working tirelessly to keep us all safe.”
