MSPS question minister’s account of failure to check air arrivals for four weeks

Family doctors in Scotland’s poorest postcodes are still waiting for crucial support staff promised by the Scottish Government four years ago.

Half of practices in deprived communities do not have a link worker to help patients deal with problems that often prevent them accessing health care. GPS said poorer patients can neglect health conditions and are at greater risk of dying from coronavirus as they have more than one low-paid job to make ends meet.

They also fear more people will die unnecessarily unless community link workers (CLWS) are rolled out.

In 2016 the Scottish Government pledged to recruit 250 CLWS by 2021 but only 112 are in post.

A report on the programme said people in deprived areas suffer from higher levels of psychological and physical health problems and have reduced life expectancy.

It concluded that CLWS are “effective” in overcoming these challenges because they offer non-clinical support to patients.

Spot checks could not be done on airport arrivals meant to be isolating in Scotland because officials did not complete paperwork for two weeks, we can reveal. Quarantine law came into force on June 8 but a data-sharing agreement between the UK and Scottish Government was not finalised until June 23 – the same day the Justice Minister told MSPS checks were already happening. We told last week how not one check was done to ensure arrivals were self-isolating despite First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warning that infected people arriving from abroad was the greatest risk of another coronavirus outbreak.

Justice Minister Humza Yousaf says there was a problem with the quality of data collected at the border by Home Office officials but that has been denied by the UK Government.

The Home Office confirmed yesterday details of arrivals to Scotland were available to