Tag: coronavirus

Managers are much more positive about flexible working and staff working from home, says new study

Managers are much more positive about their staff working from home and working flexibly since lockdown says a new study undertaken jointly by the Equal Parenting Project at the University of Birmingham and the Work Autonomy, Flexibility and Work-Life Balance at the University of Kent.

The report titled ‘Managing Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Flexible working and the future of work’ is based on a UK wide survey with managers which aimed to understand the organisational perspective on managing homeworking since the UK COVID-19 lockdown.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, many organisations have been forced to move the majority of their workforce to remote working, often at very short notice. In many cases these businesses had previously discouraged flexible working and had very little infrastructure in place to support these new ways of working. The question arises, what impact did this shift to homeworking have and what does this mean for the future of work?

To answer this question, the research team undertook a survey of managers between the 24th July to 11th August 2020. The sample consisted of managers from across the UK, an array of industries and all levels of management.

In total, 742 managers completed the survey which involved questions around norms for working from home, attitudes toward working from home, trust, key learning experience what tools the organisation supplied to employees to enable them to work from home and what support was made available to the employees.

As the first academic piece of research exploring managerial experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, this research discovered that 54.7% of managers reported over 80% of their employees have been working from home since lockdown.

As a result of their management experiences during lockdown, fewer managers now believe that presenteeism and long working hours are essential to career progression within organisations.

Many managers also reported that working from home increases productivity, concentration, and motivation due to their experiences in lockdown. 58.6% of managers surveyed said that working from home increases productivity whereas only 44.1% agreed with this statement before lockdown.

However, managers also saw some draw backs, with 58.7% of all those surveyed saying that working from home lead to isolation, and other citing issues around blurring of boundaries as key negative outcomes.

Regardless, most managers now believe working from home will become much more commonplace in the future, with more jobs, including senior roles, being advertised as being available for flexible working and more support being made available for home working.

Commenting on the report Dr Holly Birkett, Co-Director of the Equal Parenting Project at the University of Birmingham said: “The report shows managers are much more positive about working from home and flexible working, than they were before the pandemic. 

“Managers say their organisations are going to be more supportive of homeworking and flexible working in the future, including more likely to support working from home, job shares and part time working even for Senior roles. 

“This change along with the breakdown of the presenteeism culture and the removal of a flexibility stigma, which existed before COVID -19, could help improve employee wellbeing, help to support people to take on caring roles and break down many of the barriers women face to balancing career and family, with the potential to improve female representation on Boards and close the gender pay gap.”

Overall, the data included in the report has shown that working from home has been commonplace since the initial lockdown and managers have faced a steep learning curve regarding how to manage remote teams often with very little support or guidance.

Despite this, managers have been pleasantly surprised about the results with their teams generally performing really well during this time. While there have been some performance issues these were generally where this was already an issue prior to lockdown.

Dr Sarah Forbes, Co-Director of the Equal Parenting Project said: “Due to positive experiences of working from home and with flexible working patterns amongst their staff, managers are keen to support more working from home and flexible working in the future.

“This could take the form of better flexible working policies and tools to facilitate this as well as training being readily available for managers to learn how to better support remote workers in their team. However, we also need to understand working remotely over long periods of time can also be very isolating and that some people much prefer working in an office environment.”

Dr Heejung Chung, Principal Investigator of the Work Autonomy, Flexibility and Work-Life Balance Project at the University of Kent said: “As we have also seen in our previous employee survey, the flexible working genie is out of the bottle – more workers want to work flexibly in the future, and as this report has shown, managers now see how flexible working can benefit companies.

“However, that shift will not be the same for all companies and for all workers. Government policies to help make that cultural shift, by introducing stronger rights to flexible working and better protection against discrimination for flexible workers may help this transition go smoothly after the COVID-19 lockdown measures end.”

The full findings and wider recommendation of the report will be announced by Dr Sarah Forbes, Dr Holly Birkett and Dr Heejung Chung at a webinar on 26th November 2020 which has been organised by the Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business at the University of Birmingham.

The webinar will also have presentations by Lauren Adams, HR Director at CBI , Daisy Hooper, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at CMI, and Anthony Fitzpatrick, Employee Relations and Global Employment Policy Lead at Aviva will deliver organisational and managers’ perspectives on experiences of remote working during the pandemic and how these experiences are likely to change the future of work.

“A vaccine for the world”

Oxford University vaccine shows 70% protection with single dose – and 90% with second dose

The University of Oxford, in collaboration with AstraZeneca plc, has today announced interim trial data from its Phase III trials that show its candidate vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-2019, is effective at preventing COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) and offers a high level of protection.

The coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford stops 70% of people developing Covid symptoms, a large-scale trial has shown, and while the Oxford vaccine offers less protection than those produced by Pfizer and Moderna – both promising 95% protection – the Oxford vaccine is much cheaper and is easier to store. This gives the Oxford – AstaZeneca vaccine an advantage over the other two when trying to reach difficult to access areas across the world.

  • Phase 3 interim analysis including 131 Covid-19 cases indicates that the vaccine is 70.4% effective when combining data from two dosing regimens
  • In the two different dose regimens vaccine efficacy was 90% in one and 62% in the other
  • Higher efficacy regimen used a halved first dose and standard second dose
  • Early indication that vaccine could reduce virus transmission from an observed reduction in asymptomatic infections
  • There were no hospitalised or severe cases in anyone who received the vaccine
  • Large safety database from over 24,000 volunteers from clinical trials in the UK, Brazil and South Africa, with follow up since April
  • Crucially, vaccine can be easily administered in existing healthcare systems, stored at ‘fridge temperature’ (2-8 °C) and distributed using existing logistics
  • Large scale manufacturing ongoing in over 10 countries to support equitable global access

Professor Andrew Pollard, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and Chief Investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial, said: ‘These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives.

“Excitingly, we’ve found that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90% effective and if this dosing regimen is used, more people could be vaccinated with planned vaccine supply. Today’s announcement is only possible thanks to the many volunteers in our trial, and the hard working and talented team of researchers based around the world.’

Professor Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford, said: ‘The announcement today takes us another step closer to the time when we can use vaccines to bring an end to the devastation caused by SARS-CoV-2. We will continue to work to provide the detailed information to regulators.

“It has been a privilege to be part of this multi-national effort which will reap benefits for the whole world.”

Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, AstraZeneca, said: “Today marks an important milestone in our fight against the pandemic. This vaccine’s efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency.

“Furthermore, the vaccine’s simple supply chain and our no-profit pledge and commitment to broad, equitable and timely access means it will be affordable and globally available supplying hundreds of millions of doses on approval.”

Welcoming news of the breakthrough, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “This is incredibly exciting news. There are still further safety checks ahead but these are fantastic results.”

New clinical trial launched for early treatment of COVID-19

A potential treatment for COVID-19, which has shown early promise in China and Japan, will be trialled in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Glasgow is the first area in Scotland to have access to the drug, which can be taken at home when patients are in the early stages of disease as well as by hospitalised patients.

Over 300 eligible patients with COVID-19 will be invited to join the new research study into the effectiveness of the antiviral drug, favipiravir.

The trial will target early treatment of the virus for those who test positive and must be taken within four days of a COVID-19 swab test. This treatment is intended for people with milder symptoms.

The ground-breaking research is a collaboration between NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the University of Glasgow, funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government. 

The study, Glasgow Early Treatment Arm Favipiravir (GETAFIX), will assess the effectiveness of the drug to help with symptoms and reduce the time it takes to recover from COVID-19.

Favipiravir has been developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemicals in Japan and an early study on its effectiveness has shown it to alleviate some symptoms.

Three hospitals are taking part including Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Royal Alexandra Hospital. Patients may receive treatment in hospital or as outpatients.

The antiviral treatment is taken in tablet form. Half the patients involved will receive the drug twice a day for 10 days alongside standard treatment, with the other half receiving standard treatment for comparison.

The study is organised by the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit in Glasgow and supported by the Glasgow Clinical Research Facility.

Prof Rob Jones, Director of the CRUK Clinical Trials Unit, Glasgow, and Chief Investigator of the study commented: “COVID-19 was a disease few of us had even heard of before the spring. Although hopes are high ongoing vaccine trials will help prevent infection, this trial aims to improve current treatment for those unlucky enough to contract it.

“With the GETAFIX trial, we will be rapidly looking at whether this antiviral treatment may help kill off the virus in those affected and prevent more serious complications.”

Dr Janet Scott (MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research) said: “This drug is active against many viruses, it is used already for influenza in Japan. We are able to offer it not just to patients in hospital but also for home use.

“Our hope is that it will stop mild symptoms developing into serious ones. We are targeting volunteers who are at higher risk of progressing to serious COVID19 such as those over 60 years old or with underlying health problems.”

Prime Minister: G20 must work together to defeat the pandemic and protect the planet

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge G20 leaders to take more ambitious action to defeat the pandemic and address climate change, as he attends a virtual summit this weekend.

Hosted by Saudi Arabia, the G20 Summit will bring together world leaders for two days of discussions on how to drive the global recovery from coronavirus and build back better.

At a session on ‘Overcoming the Pandemic and Restoring Growth and Jobs’ today [Saturday 21st], Boris Johnson will note the UK’s commitment to equitable global access for coronavirus vaccines and encourage others to step up and support the COVAX initiative, to ensure developing countries are not frozen out of the race for a vaccine.

On Sunday [22nd], he will welcome recent Net Zero commitments from a number of G20 countries at a session on ‘Building an Inclusive, Sustainable and Resilient Future’, and call on others to make the same pledge. Ahead of the Climate Ambition Summit co-hosted by the UK on December 12th, the Prime Minister will warn that we risk failing future generations if states do not take bold steps to reduce their emissions.

Speaking ahead of the G20, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The G20 committed in March to do ‘whatever it takes to overcome the pandemic and protect lives and livelihoods’. As we meet this weekend, we must hold ourselves to account for that promise.

“If we harness the collective ingenuity and resources of the G20, we can chart a path out of the pandemic and build a better, greener future.”

The Prime Minister is attending the G20 remotely from Downing Street on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd November. Both sessions are expected to take place in the afternoon.

Scots families face disaster if enhanced benefits withdrawn

New report shows 60,000 Scots face poverty as result of UK cuts

More than 60,000 people in Scotland, including 20,000 children, will be plunged into poverty if the UK Government continues with plans to withdraw benefits brought in to provide support through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a new report has shown.

Scottish Government analysis shows that if the UK Government takes away the £20-a-week increase in Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits, and reinstates the Minimum Income Floor for the self-employed, as planned in April 2021, Scottish households will lose up to £476 million.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “We are very concerned about the economic impact of the pandemic on people, particularly those on low incomes. This report highlights that if these cuts go ahead, hundreds of thousands of households in Scotland will see their incomes drop by more than £1,000 per year. This could push even more people into poverty.

“Last year the Scottish Government invested nearly £2 billion to support low income households and to tackle poverty. We have also introduced the new Scottish Child Payment to tackle child poverty head on.

“The UK Government must match our ambition and support people in need. They can start by using next week’s spending review to confirm that they will keep the £20 uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits and give people the certainty they need, not wait until April 2021 when people will face a cliff edge.”

Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance, said: “Increasing Universal Credit payments was the right thing to do when the pandemic first struck. It has been a vital lifeline for hundreds of thousands, and it’s right that this support remains in place.

“More people will be swept into even deeper poverty if the £20 uplift is cut. Lone parents will be particularly hard hit, but the impact will be felt by all groups which need this vital support.

“We would urge the UK Government to act on this important evidence, to keep households afloat by retaining this lifeline.”

Scheduling the withdrawal of the £20 uplift and the reinstatement of the Minimum Income Floor to April 2021 will coincide with the Job Support Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme coming to an end.

The Job Retention Scheme has played an important role in curbing unemployment since it was introduced in March, with nearly a quarter of a million workers furloughed in Scotland as of 31 August. If the scheme finishes as scheduled in April 2021, it is likely the number of people claiming benefits will rise further.

The Scottish Government report, Impact of withdrawing emergency benefit measures, can be read in full here. 

The Minimum Income Floor (MIF) is a base amount used to calculate how much Universal Credit should be awarded to self-employed people. Anyone earning below the MIF is treated as though they earn that amount, while those earning more have their actual earnings taken into account.

When the UK Government removed the MIF, everyone who was self-employed received benefits based on their actual earnings.

Scotland’s Social Security Secretary recently joined Ministers from Wales and Northern Ireland in writing to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Therese Coffey, asking that they work together to ensure those who are entitled to financial support are receiving it – and to call for the £20 uplift on Universal Credit to be made permanent and extended to other benefits which will eventually be replaced by UC.

That letter can be read in full here.

STUC survey uncovers Covid concerns at work

A STUC survey had exposed widespread Covid-19 related concerns in Scottish workplaces, including a looming mental health crisis.

The research by Scotland’s national union body found the pandemic “has exacerbated a pre-existing lack of trust in employers when it comes to disclosing mental health conditions”. 

STUC says workers’ mental health has been significantly affected throughout the current public health crisis, with most workers saying they do not trust their employers to supporting their mental health.

Most indicated they do not feel supported by their employer when disclosing that there are battling with poor mental health, and almost half (47 per cent) do not feel comfortable disclosing their concerns to their employer.

Two-thirds (67 per cent) of people who have disclosed they have a mental health issue or illness have been offered no form of reasonable adjustment for their mental health.

The survey also found approaching half (43 per cent) of workers had not been offered any form of risk assessment for working at home.

STUC general secretary Roz Foyer said: “Despite the fact that poor mental health has become more honestly and openly discussed as a public issue, it appears that many workplaces have a long way to go in enabling people to be confident in disclosing mental health conditions or for supporting those who do.”

She added: “Employers should take heed of this. A crisis of trust between workers and managers could result in long term damaging impacts to a workplace and its workers. Employers need to understand that workers’ mental health is as important as their physical health, and must be treated as such.”

UK-wide study shows antibodies persist for at least two months in children who have had COVID-19

One thousand children from Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, known as ‘COVID Warriors’ have had their levels of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies measured during the first wave of the pandemic and repeated again two months after initial recruitment. 

The findings have now been published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 

The study is led by Dr Tom Waterfield from the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen’s University Belfast, in partnership with the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Northern Ireland. 

The aim of the study, which began in May and is ongoing, is to assess the number of children who have had COVID-19, the symptomatology of infection and the kinetics of the antibody response in children. 

The researchers have found that antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 persisted beyond two months in all children. Unlike other studies, this is one of the first to report on follow up blood results in children and provides an early insight into how the antibody response evolves over time. 

Dr Tom Waterfield, lead on the study, said: “These results show that the antibody response to COVID-19 infection in children seems to be holding firm at two months and that antibodies are likely to persist for some time. This provides renewed hope that children may develop a lasting immunity to infection.” 

Health and Social Care Research & Development Division (HSC R&D Division) of the Public Health Agency plays an ongoing role in supporting the conduct of high-quality health and social care research and has provided funding to support the delivery of this important study. 

Dr Janice Bailie, Assistant Director of HSC Research and Development said: “Research studies continue to play an ongoing, vital role in the pandemic response; as the COVID Warriors study tests children at multiple timepoints, we now know more about the SARS-CoV-2 antibody response and its behaviour over time. 

“Such findings will be of great value to help inform our decision-making, and planning of appropriate measures to protect our population.”

The study is supported by funding from HSC R&D Division, Public Health Agency, The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and is also subsidised by a donation from the Queen’s Foundation thanks to a past graduate of the University through a charitable gift in their will. 

It is being delivered in partnership with The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, the Ulster Independent Clinic, NHS Glasgow and Greater Clyde, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. 

Edinburgh Leisure: “We’re here to help and support you to be active”

Despite the current Scottish Government restrictions affecting the sport & leisure industry, Edinburgh Leisure is continuing to reopen their venues and services and encouraging as many people of various ages and stages to get active.

June Peebles, CEO at Edinburgh Leisure said: “Over the past few weeks and months, there’s been a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes to bring Edinburgh Leisure’s 14 venues that are currently open and services back to life.

“This includes their six golf courses, gyms, tennis courts, sports halls and pitches, Europe’s largest climbing arena at Ratho, five Victorian pools and of course, the very popular Royal Commonwealth Pool.

“And despite all the changes we have had to deal with and continue to deal with –whether that be the changes to facility guidance or changes to what activities we can and cannot open (our group fitness classes and adult group activities are not able to take place under the current Level 3 restrictions), we have continued to progress with our re-opening plans.

“Feedback has been so positive with Edinburgh Leisure being one of the businesses singled out for making customers feel safest since reopening with all the measures we have put in place, and an ‘overall crowd-pleaser’.”

Since June, customers have been dusting off their clubs and heading to Edinburgh Leisure’s golf courses. Customer visits are up 43% on last year and continue to perform exceptionally well, despite the autumn weather and ever reducing day light and playing hours.

The sale of Edinburgh Leisure’s Winter Golf membership, which costs from £22.50 per month with unlimited play at six of their golf courses across the city until 31 March 2021, is contributing to the impressive sales, up four times compared to that in 2019.

Other services that have reopened include the sporting facilities in seven of the Council’s high schools, which Edinburgh Leisure manage on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council, and Clip ‘n Climb family sessions at the EICA, albeit on a reduced basis.

Their popular coaching programme for children’s swim and dive lessons, tennis, gymnastics and climbing, restarted on 16 November.  The swim coaching programme at Queensferry High School restarts on Monday, 30th November.

Seven thousand children and young people have returned to coaching, which although is a reduction on what was available pre-lockdown, complies with Scottish Government and sportscotland guidelines to keep people safe.

Their popular NRG Zone – a coached gym session for children from S1 to 15 years – is now being offered. These sessions introduce the safe and effective use of the gym space and equipment and allows the young person to get accredited and then able to use the gym on the own, at time out with NRG Zone classes, where there are gym instructors present.   NRG is running across nine of their venues from Friday to Sundays – with limited places offered at specified gym times.

Gym instructor bookings are available once more and need to be booked in advance. Initially, it will be ‘Introduction for New Users and ‘Gym Update Reviews, which are offered with both sessions starting with a 15 minute – one to one -consultation, where goals will be discussed, exercise advice given and a demonstration of the safe use of equipment. The remainder of the gym session will allow the customer to train in the gym with staff checking on progress.

Edinburgh Leisure has also introduced Family Swim Sessions into their pool timetables, where families of up to five people can swim in a pre-booked pool ‘pod’, with prices starting from £9.60 per family group.

Due to the Covid restrictions, groups must adhere to the existing adult:child ratio as well as the COVID-19 restrictions, and need to arrive swim ready.  In some of the venues, deep-end pods are also available for families with  confident swimmers.

A number of Edinburgh Leisure’s Active Communities projects have also restarted.  Active Communities helps improve the lives of people affected by health conditions, poverty, inequalities, and disabilities.

Programmes which have restarted include: one to one gym sessions for participants on their Healthy Active Minds project; their #YouCan project, which supports care-experienced young people to get active, is running virtual one to ones, outdoor and group outreach programmes; Active Mums, which supports low income families, has restarted as an outdoor group with the mums enjoying socially distanced workouts in Pilrig Park, with their children being cared for in the creche at Dr Bells Family Centre; and Get Moving Adults Weight Management Education Classes.

In addition, Ageing Well, which encourages older people to get active and stay active, has restarted three of their popular walks.

Ryan Dignan, Health Development Officer, remarked: “The walkers have said how relieved they were that the group was back again as they had missed it so much.”

June Peebles concluded: “Edinburgh Leisure remains as committed as ever to supporting Edinburgh citizens to be active and healthy. We’ve had to introduce a number of changes to comply with all the COVID-19 safety guidance that’s out there. 

“Things are somewhat different, with smaller numbers taking part in activities at any one time, the mandatory wearing of face coverings when moving around our venues, enhanced cleaning and physical distancing measures but it’s all in place to ensure our customers are safe when visiting our venues. 

“The feedback has been really positive. Never has the importance of taking care of your physical and mental health been so important – please remember we’re here to help and support you to be active.”

COVID vaccinations from next month?

The first coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations could be given to health and social care staff, older care home residents and those over 80 years old who live in the community from as early as next month – December 2020.

Updating Parliament on the safe delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman outlined that the first groups to be prioritised for vaccination have been identified based on current independent clinical advice.

Once these initial priority groups have been vaccinated, those over 65 will be offered the vaccination along with those under 65 who are at additional clinical risk, before moving on to the wider population over the age of 18. 

An agreement has also been reached with the British Medical Association on the terms and conditions of GPs’ involvement in the programme.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “I want to be clear that safety is paramount in our approach to the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

“The global scientific, research and pharmaceutical community has come together and worked as never before. That is why we are seeing the front running vaccines delivered in months rather than years, but it is not at the expense of safety.

“Any COVID-19 vaccines deployed in Scotland will be used on the basis of compelling public health grounds, and only when the regulatory bodies and those charged with providing independent clinical advice are satisfied in terms of vaccine safety and effectiveness. The groups we vaccinate first will also be those most at risk from COVID-19.

“Scotland has a strong track record of delivering immunisation programmes, but this programme will be the largest of its kind ever undertaken and we will need more than 2,000 vaccinators and support staff by the end of January for the first phase.

“This is a national vaccination programme which will set out clearly the parameters within which NHS Boards will lead local delivery.

“NHS Boards will identify acceptable and accessible locations, both for mass vaccination and for local access.

“Taking account of local population and geography, they will undertake recruitment and deployment of staff, and the management of local vaccination clinics.

“We will be getting in touch with the first priority groups in the coming weeks and I urge people to take up the vaccine when they are offered it.  It offers additional protection that we don’t have by other means.

“I also want to thank those who are not in the first priority groups for their patience as we protect the most vulnerable people in our communities first, in line with the scientific and clinical evidence. 

“The most important thing you can do to protect yourself and others from the virus in addition is to continue to check and follow the Scottish Government’s guidance for your area and above all to follow FACTS.”

Full statement to Parliament

Visit nhsinform.scot/coronavirus for more information

CANCER: ‘If you’re worried – see your GP and get checked out’

Four thousand fewer pathologically confirmed cancer diagnoses in March – June 2020 compared to 2019

As part of the ongoing response to COVID-19, Public Health Scotland provides an overview of changes in health and use of healthcare services during the pandemic.

This week, data on the numbers of people who have had a diagnosis of cancer confirmed using a sample of tissue (a pathologically confirmed cancer) between 1 January and 21 June 2020, compared with how many there were in the same period in 2019 are included in our analysis for the first time. 

This information is provided to help inform the ongoing response to COVID-19 and is a subset of the fuller information on cancer incidence in 2020, which is due to be published by the Scottish Cancer Registry in 2022.

The data show that between January and March 2020, the number of people who had a pathological diagnosis of cancer was similar to the number in the same period in 2019. 

By the week ending 21 June 2020, around 4,000 fewer people in Scotland had a pathologically confirmed cancer diagnosis than would have been expected.

Between March and June 2020, numbers fell by about 40% of those in 2019. In total, therefore, between January and the end of June 2020, the overall number of patients diagnosed was down by 19% on 2019 figures in the same period. 

The fall in numbers is unlikely to be due to a reduced occurrence of cancer, and is likely to reflect a combination of: patients with possible cancer symptoms not seeking out help from their GP (as they may be worried about catching COVID-19); changes to the national screening programmes in the first few months of the pandemic; or reductions in the availability of diagnostic services and treatment during this period.

It is clear that COVID-19 has caused substantial direct and indirect harm to the health of the people of Scotland.  As we continue to provide guidance on and evidence for actions to stop the spread of the virus we will also monitor the wider impact it has in our communities.

PHS will do this so that, together with partners in Government, local Government and in Health Boards across Scotland, we can work to protect the health of all of Scotland’s people.

Professor David Morrison, Director of the Scottish Cancer Registry at Public Health Scotland said: “Understanding the impact of the pandemic on health and healthcare services is a crucial part of our efforts to respond to and recover from it.

“As part of the Scottish Cancer Registry’s response we wanted to help understand how cancer diagnoses and cancer services have been affected. The reduction in cancer diagnoses this year gives us a sense of the scale of the impact of COVID-19 on all stages of the journey from first seeking help to recovering from treatment.   

“If you’re worried you might have cancer – see your GP and get checked out. It’s probably not cancer – but if it is, the sooner you’re diagnosed, the better your chances of successful treatment.”

To see the further information on the wider impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s health, and their use of healthcare services, including the data on cancer outlined above, please visit our COVID-19 wider impacts on the health care system web pages.

For information on screening, please visit NHS Inform.