Impact on mental health ‘significant’

even more fragile situation and people with mental health illnesses who will have had their conditions exasperated by the situation we are living in.

“This will significant.”

At the meeting Kate Bell, director of mental health at NHS Tayside, also said mental health support has continued throughout the coronavirus lockdown and said from a mental health perspective it was “business as usual”.

Meanwhile, patients can expect to be tested for coronavirus and walk through thermal scanners

be before attending hospital appointments in the future.

Chief executive of NHS Tayside Grant Archibald said the health board was looking at how it will function beyond the current outbreak, and said it is important to get services back up and running for patients waiting for operations.

“We recognise there are many people waiting for operations which are not urgent, but are needed and were recommended, so it is important we re-mobilise hospital services so we can deal with these patients,” he said.

“We hope every patient waiting on surgery understands their clinicians have had to make a judgment based on their need for surgery and what challenges they would face if they were brought into hospital. We are looking to the future with our re-mobilising plans.

“For patients we know are not Covid-19 positive, we will be asking them to self-isolate before their operation and two days before we will test them for Covid19 – if they are negative, their operation can proceed.”

A walk-through thermal scanner is already in place at Ninewells which identifies if people have a high temperature, with people on hand to give advice.

A total of 854 people have gone through the scanner so far.

Dr Drew Walker