���˿���

That is a fair question to ask. Of course I would look to see where we can provide even more support. I make the point, which I know is well understood by colleagues around the table, that the long Covid fund is on top of the £18 billion in this financial year and £19 billion in the next financial year that we are giving to the NHS and social care, a chunk of which is given to our health boards. It is worth saying that our front-line spend per head is higher in Scotland than it is in other parts of the UK. It is £323 per person higher than it is in England, for example.

I keep going back to the Lanarkshire model because I have seen it first hand, and I have spoken to some people who have benefited from that service. When that rehabilitation service was up and running, people did not wait for the allocation from the £10 million long Covid fund; they used their health board allocation to create that team—to recruit and hire those multidisciplinary team members who are providing that support to long Covid sufferers. I hope that that gives you some reassurance.

Agreed.

We have looked at other long Covid clinic models around the UK, such as the Hertfordshire model, which Dr Sandesh Gulhane has mentioned previously. I go back to the Scottish intercollegiate guidelines network and NICE guidelines on long Covid, which say that one model would not fit all areas. I think that we all accept that.

I agree strongly with the RCGP’s written evidence to the committee on that. I will quote it directly. It says that long Covid

“often requires generalists skills to treat, but most can be fully managed in primary care, and the GP is best placed to provide this holistic approach.”

It goes on to say:

“there is an increased risk that patients presenting with Long Covid symptoms may have instead another cardiac or respiratory condition which may have similar or even identical symptoms. Patients need a GP assessment and investigation”—

this is the important part—

“rather than being funnelled inappropriately into a clinic that is designed for one condition, and then require further investigation and alternative management.”

I have never been opposed in principle to long Covid clinics—I have said that from day 1. That is why I have asked my team to look at the Hertfordshire model, for example. In effect, they try to cut out the middle person. We have GPs and, if they have the appropriate referral pathways through the implementation support note that take people directly to a Covid rehabilitation service in, for example, Lanarkshire—that is the example that I keep using—that is a better model than a GP having to refer someone to a long Covid clinic that would then have to refer them on to another pathway. I am not opposed to long Covid clinics in principle; I am trying to allow local health boards to design services to meet their local need.

It will be reprofiled over the next few years.

I will go to the clinician to give a response to that, because it would not be right for me, without clinical knowledge, to assert what will happen in relation to long Covid and its comparison to ME and chronic fatigue syndrome. There are clearly some similarities in how the conditions present. The disbelief that Murdo Fraser referred to in his question we also sometimes hear from ME and CFS sufferers. However, if you do not mind, I will pass to Dr Harden to give a view on the question.

We have run a marketing campaign on the symptoms that people might suffer in order to direct them to NHS Inform. I refer Brian Whittle to a YouGov poll of 1,001 members of the public that came out in February, which found that 94 per cent of people had heard of long Covid and that 76 per cent of people agreed with the statement that

“Long Covid is a serious condition for those that experience it.”

There is good understanding of long Covid, although perhaps not an understanding, such as those around the committee table and long Covid sufferers have, of all the intricacies of the condition. There is acknowledgment that long Covid exists and that it can have a serious impact on people’s lives.

We will continue to do more to make sure that people know about long Covid and—which is important—the local services that are available. The YouGov poll certainly suggests to me that there is good public awareness of long Covid, at least at a high level.

Yes—Brian Whittle and I share that interest. I do not think that I am misquoting Brian Whittle when I say that he has described himself as a data geek or a data nerd. I am the same: I think that data is crucial and key to the issue. So many of the challenges that we have faced across health and social care have happened because we simply have not dismantled the barriers to sharing data effectively.

That is why I refer to our health and social care data strategy. I am certain that I offered Brian Whittle the chance to sit down with me and my team to go through it in greater detail. I hope that he will forgive me, as we have not yet had that chance. He should meet my officials. We are not necessarily trying to have one system across the NHS and social care, but to see whether we can use the cloud infrastructure to ensure that anyone in either system who has to access data can do so through a cloud-based system. Sharing of data is incredibly important.

There are eight priority areas for action in the work of the data strategy group; I will mention a couple of the key pillars. One is data access, and sharing data is also high up there. I could not agree more with Brian Whittle about data. If he would find it helpful to have such a meeting with my officials who are leading on the strategy, I would be happy to ensure that it is arranged.

A number of research and data points are important to us. We have referenced the ONS study. The EAVE II—early pandemic evaluation and enhanced surveillance of Covid-19—study is helpful in that regard, too. There is a variety of data sources.

I have also asked my team—we will have such discussions on a four-nations basis—to look at the international data and research that exist. I mentioned our nine research projects and I mentioned international data, but accurate local data is required. The national strategic network, which I have also referenced, has a dedicated workstream to agree outcomes, indicators, monitoring and evaluation to accelerate progress on capturing data. That will inform planning of our health service provision for people suffering from long Covid. The strategic network is trying to get consistency across the country.

I mentioned the EAVE II study, which I think you all know about. If you do not, we can provide detail on it. The initial report on prevalence of long Covid among adults in Scotland was published earlier this month; it is another helpful data source. Dr Harden is indicating that he wants to come in.

We are doing work on long Covid with colleagues in fair work and employment. There are issues. Long Covid sufferers have told me that they did not have the most supportive employers. We are working with a variety of organisations to try to assist in that regard and to get the message out there. I have been heartened by the fact that the majority of interactions that I have had on business indicate that people have felt supported by their employers in relation to Covid and long Covid. However, that is not universal and it is not consistent enough.

We are engaging with employment colleagues. I can ask them to write to the convener with more detail about the actions that they are taking with employers in relation to long Covid, if that would be helpful.

I will need to check. I am not sure whether my colleagues know exactly when that money was given to the third sector organisations. However, we worked with those organisations, made it clear that the money was coming as part of the money that health boards could not spend, and asked whether they were confident that they would be able to meet the criteria for it. That is why, as you will see, the amounts are, in some cases, relatively small and, in some cases, larger. The organisations are building on existing programmes. However, the fundamental point is that we have given a guarantee to health boards and others that the £10 million will be available over the next few years.