£380m funding boost to help health boards

The Scottish Government has announced a further £380 million to help health boards cope with Covid-19.

At her briefing yesterday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the cash would help cover the cost of PPE, Test and Protect and the vaccination programme – which, she revealed, has today hit a “milestone”.

More than half of the population has now been fully vaccinated, and to increase that even more, drop-in appointments will be offered by every mainland health board from Monday.

Ms Sturgeon said: “More than 60% of those eligible for the vaccine have now had both doses, but as of today, more than 50% of the entire population is now fully vaccinated.

“That is an important milestone and one that will be increasing our levels of protection against this virus.”

Another 3,823 positive cases have been confirmed in the last 24 hours, down from yesterday’s record high of 4,234.

Grampian has recorded 322 cases while Stonehaven in particular has had a surge in cases, with many businesses closing as a result.

Four deaths have also been registered across Scotland.

All mainland health boards will offer drop-in clinics as the roll-out nears the target of all Scottish adults receiving at least one dose.

Everyone aged 18 and over will be able to attend one of the walk-in centres for their first jab or – if eight weeks have passed – their second dose without making an appointment.

Ms Sturgeon added: “We are trying to make this as easy and accessible as possible.

“You can turn up at a centre, or keep your scheduled appointment.”

She added that the success of the vaccination programme had helped prevent another lockdown as cases continue to rise.

“We are continuing to deal with a surge in new cases; it is heavily driven by the dominance of the Delta variant,” she said.

“Vaccination is the reason that this surge in cases hasn’t led to the reimposition of a strict lockdown.

“I think it would have done that at any earlier stage in this pandemic but now – and this is the positive thing about vaccination – the vaccines are doing much of the work that lockdown measures previously had to do.”

But she warned against complacency, and made a plea for “renewed caution”.

“I want to assure you that we are not being complacent about this,” she said.

“Our priority, our plan, is to extend vaccine coverage as quickly as possible.

“That is our best line of protection.

“But we will also be encouraging renewed caution on behalf of the population while we do so, because our biggest vulnerability just now is that – notwithstanding the success of the (vaccine roll-out) programme – there are still quite a lot of people who do not yet have the protection of both doses.

“That’s why we’re making it easier for people to get vaccinated, and I want to stress that we are vaccinating as quickly as supplies and the clinical advice on the timing of second doses, allows us to do.

“And while we do this, our collective priority must be to do all we can to slow the virus down, and that really matters.”

The £380 million funding boost was announced as NHS Grampian admitted it was struggling to cope with the demand on Test and Protect and NHS Highland reported growing pressures on services due to the shortages caused by staff self-isolating.

The funding – which is on top of £1.7m provided last year – is broken down into £90.3m for Test and Protect, £76.8m for Covid and extended flu vaccinations and £85.5m for PPE.

The remaining money will be used for additional staffing, equipment, maintenance and IT.

Health Secretary Humaz Yousaf has also pledged that a national recovery plan for the NHS will be published within the government’s first 100 days.

Ms Sturgeon confirmed that in wave one and two Scotland had been “behind and below” the UK curve, however the country has now overtaken it.

PANDEMIC: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the cash as she revealed a ‘milestone’ has been reached in the vaccination roll-out.