We are doing all we can to protect public

THE coronavirus crisis poses an enormous challenge for our health service but, thanks to the hard work of those on the NHS frontline, we are getting ready.

To support our key workers we’ve been keeping school and childcare facilities open for people, such as NHS staff.

Local authorities will continue to keep facilities open over the Easter holidays as well, to ensure that children are safe and looked after while their parents are doing critical jobs.

Working with governments across the four nations of the UK, we have taken rapid action to increase the capacity of the NHS to deal with Covid-19 cases.

We are moving as swiftly as we can to quadruple our intensive care capacity across the country.

About 3000 beds have been freed up for use by Covid-19 patients, and extra ventilators have already arrived.

We have also managed to convert, on an interim basis, more than 200 operating theatre anaesthetic machines into intensive care ventilators.

By the end of this week, we will have trebled ventilation capacity to just over 560 – and that will grow further still in the weeks ahead.

In Scotland, we have developed a unique hub and assessment centre pathway for Covid-19 patients.

There are now more than 40 assessment centres across Scotland with health boards continuing to plan for up to 50.

We have also taken the decision to secure the SEC in Glasgow as the site for a temporary hospital.

With the support of the Army and Balfour Beatty as the main contractor, work has now begun.

The temporary hospital, NHS Louisa Jordan, will have an initial capacity of 300 beds but with the capacity to expand to 1000 patients if needed. It should be available for use in two weeks.

Our social care staff continue to do an incredible job under tough conditions and I’m sure I speak for everyone in extending my thanks for their hard work.

We have released additional financial support to GPs that will allow them to continue to provide this critical service including over the Easter weekend.

The safety of our health and social care workforce is a priority. We monitor our supply of personal protective equipment daily and, against growing demand, our stock supply remains adequate at this time – with additional orders continuously placed.

We have introduced a number of additional steps to ensure the swift delivery of PPE to those who need it.

We welcome the new UK Government programme with industry, charities and universities to increase testing capacity for health workers and we are working with the UK Government to support implementation, including from a site in Glasgow, so the new tests can be introduced as quickly as possible in Scotland.

We are working to rapidly increase our NHS laboratory capacity in Scotland.

This has now increased to about 1900 test capacity daily and will continue to increase to around 3400 at the end of April.

There have been claims that NHS England is leading on procurement for Covid-19 tests for Scotland – this is untrue.

The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland will continue to procure all the kits and equipment to extend our testing capacity within Scotland, while taking part in four country initiatives with the rest of the UK which may further add to that capacity.

These are in addition to, not instead of, building our own capacity.

The health professional regulator has written to professionals who left their registers in the past three years so we can encourage them to return.

Those with health conditions which place people at the highest risk from Covid-19 have been asked to stringently self-isolate for 12 weeks.

Letters are being issued to people in this group to advise them of the steps to take to keep themselves safe.

All of this is only possible because of the incredible dedication and hard work of our health and social care staff, and the commitment of the people of Scotland to stay home to save lives.

I want to record my gratitude for all those NHS, healthcare workers and unpaid carers who are working in challenging circumstances for the good of the people of Scotland.

We are in their debt.