Mental Health Support (Health and Care Staff)

– in the Scottish Parliament at on 14 May 2020.

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Photo of David Torrance David Torrance Scottish National Party

Is the Scottish Government providing any additional mental health support for front-line national health service staff and care workers during the Covid-19 crisis?

Photo of Clare Haughey Clare Haughey Scottish National Party

I thank David Torrance for raising an important issue on which I have been leading. We have written to NHS boards, local authorities and chief officers of integration joint boards about the importance of the issue, and we have highlighted key messages and approaches. We have established a national workforce wellbeing champion network across health and social care organisations and are ensuring that learning can be shared across sectors. In conjunction with NHS Education for Scotland, through a bespoke digital platform, we are providing up to 1,000 hours of coaching to staff across health and social care. We have also developed a national wellbeing hub, which we launched on Monday.

We recognise the importance of building on that work to ensure that appropriate practical and emotional support is available to everyone in Scotland who is providing care. That includes unpaid carers, the families of those who care for us and volunteers, to whom we are so grateful for coming back to help us in health and social care.