Debate: Protecting Scotland’s Health and Care Workforce

That the Parliament agrees that getting Scotland vaccinated against COVID-19 is the country's national priority and thanks all staff involved in the roll-out; notes the concern of the British Medical Association that inoculation targets are in danger of being missed due to “red tape” and "patchy supplies"; believes that home-care staff should be given the same priority for testing and vaccination as other frontline healthcare staff and calls for the healthcare workforce to receive both vaccine doses no later than the end of February; notes with serious concern the extreme pressure on the NHS as COVID-19 hospital admissions have increased during the second wave and as an increasing numbers of patients are catching COVID-19 in hospital; believes that the cancellation of elective procedures, delays to treatment and continued long waits for care are devastating for patients and that these are creating a backlog of clinical demand from which the NHS will take years to recover; considers that further urgent preventative measures are required to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in healthcare settings, to maintain patient and staff safety and to protect non-COVID healthcare services, and calls on the Scottish Government to enhance the PPE recommendations and provide access to at least FFP3 masks and eye protection for all patient-facing healthcare staff, to maximise protection against all known and emerging variants of the virus.