Jackie Baillie MSP and Health Secretary Jeane Freeman.
By Democrat reporter
Scottish Labour Deputy Leader, Jackie Baillie is calling on the Scottish Government to deliver their target of 2,000 contact tracers as Covid19 cases continue to rise across the country.
The MSP for Dumbarton, Helensburgh, Vale of Leven and Lomond said: “The number of contact tracers is a drop in the ocean of what is required to effectively manage this virus. Under ten per cent of the promised number are working at the National Contact Tracing Centre with the rest spread across health boards and are pulled from other NHS services which will be under mounting pressure.
“The small number of staff following up on inbound passengers through airports is also woeful with only 25 to be in place by October, this is an inevitable source for new infections and must be properly managed.
“It’s clear that the recruitment drive at the start was just not good enough so I urge the SNP to do all they can to build these numbers up as the pandemic rises again and we head into the winter period.”
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman’s full reply was: Prior to the formal launch of the Test and Protect system, we asked all NHS Scotland boards to collectively make available up to 2,000 staff to participate in contact tracing activity. As acknowledged at the time, the resource was provided substantially from existing workforce and it was recognised that not all would be required at any one time. We keep contact tracing capacity under active review, in line with modelling undertaken by Public Health Scotland, with all boards required to maintain a total national capacity commensurate with demand.
In management information collated on the 10 September 2020, approximately 874 staff capable of undertaking contact tracing activity, were available for deployment across NHS Scotland territorial boards and the National Contact Tracing Centre, a summary of this information, broken down by board, is set out in the following table. The Scottish Government does not hold data centrally on the proportion of these staff who are newly recruited or redeployed; the recruitment and deployment of staff is a matter for the board. The recruitment position within boards is subject to on-going change, in line with the national modelling picture, and where local service composition changes as a result of the mobilisation of other NHS services.
Recruitment to the National Contact Tracing Centre (NCTC) is on-going, in addition to existing staffing, further recruitment to the centre for 85 WTE started in week commencing 07 September 2020. We continue to make use of the pipeline of candidates identified through national recruitment, with 300 shortlisted applicants currently concluding the interview process. Additionally, a further 25 staff are being recruited by early October to focus on work to follow-up with people who are quarantining after arriving into Scotland from abroad from non-exempt countries.