The pause in operations at a number of Scottish hospitals will be kept “as short as possible”, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
On Tuesday, the First Minister was asked about the fact a number of hospitals have declared “code black” and postponed non-urgent surgeries due to rising numbers of coronavirus patients.
She also said the government was currently in discussions about removing the blanket requirement for healthcare staff to self-isolate when they are identified as a close contact of someone with Covid-19.
The move would free up medics to deal with pressure in hospitals.
During Tuesday’s virtual meeting of the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie highlighted the pressure the self-isolation requirement was putting on services.
READ MORE: What does code black mean for hospitals?
He said: “Three code blacks issued by hospitals this week means long-awaited operations are being cancelled.
“GP appointments are also off, pharmacies closed, waste not collected and social care impacted too.
“It’s in large part because thousands of key workers are self-isolating, even though they have tested negative.”
He said a “test and release” system should be introduced urgently.
The First Minister responded: “When health boards are announcing the pausing of elective, non-Covid treatment, we want that to be for as short a period of time as possible.
“That’s not something we are just going to extend for a long period of time.
“This is something that is kept dynamically under review – there is a great emphasis right now on trying to get the NHS back to normal.”
Ms Sturgeon referred to her plans to change self-isolation rules for close contacts when Scotland moved beyond Level 0.
She said the government was exploring whether the relaxation of the rules could be introduced for “key parts of our workforce” at an earlier point.
Discussions were ongoing with trade unions “right now”, she said, with any changes announced to parliament.
The First Minister also said she wished Mr Rennie “all the best” following his announcement on Monday that he would be stepping down as Scottish Lib Dem leader.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel