Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing
Nicola Sturgeon
Statement on pandemic flu at the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood, Edinburgh
November 22, 2007
____________
I am grateful for the opportunity today to update Parliament on the steps the Scottish Government is taking to prepare Scotland for a possible flu pandemic.
Given that a flu pandemic will not respect national or regional boundaries, our preparations are being carefully co-ordinated with those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Indeed, this statement coincides with one made by the Secretary of State for Health in the House of Commons earlier today.
As Members will be aware, pandemic flu is one of the most serious risks facing the world. There were three pandemics in the twentieth century and the World Health Organisation has warned that another is "inevitable". A pandemic will be global in scale, but the consequences will be felt by people at a local level. It could touch every family, and we must therefore take the threat seriously and prepare for it as well as we possibly can.
Once a pandemic has started, the Scottish Government's objective will be to reduce illness and save lives. There will also be a clear need to minimise the inevitable wider impact on society and our economy.
To guide us in meeting these objectives, I can announce today the publication of a revised Scottish Framework for responding to a flu pandemic. Copies of the Framework are available in SPICE. In publishing this Framework, I want to acknowledge the preparatory work carried out under the previous Administration.
The Framework sets out the Scottish Government's approach to dealing with a pandemic outbreak. It explains what we are doing to prepare, the roles of key players and how our response will be coordinated. For the first time, planning across a range of sectors has been brought together in one document.
Many sectors are already well advanced in preparing for a pandemic. Multi agency planning is being taken forward by Scotland's Strategic Coordinating Groups with the full support of the Scottish government.
It is vital that all local partners are involved and that planning is robust. There must be a clear understanding of the impact of a pandemic on areas such as education, transport and utilities and a full appreciation of how it will affect wider society.
Given my own Ministerial responsibilities, I want to acknowledge and welcome the considerable progress that has been made by Scotland's NHS Boards. It is inevitable that our health and community care services will bear the biggest burden of a pandemic so it is reassuring to see how much work has already been done.
To further support the vital work our health services are undertaking, I am today also publishing supplementary guidance for community care providers and for those working in primary care.
At the same time, we are issuing for public discussion guidance on mental health services and human resources in healthcare. This guidance will help planners understand the complex challenges faced by these services.
The publication of the Framework and accompanying guidance is an important step but the process does not end there. We must ensure that plans are tested so that any gaps can be identified.
Scotland participated in the UK national pandemic flu exercise in February 2007. This was a substantial exercise involving a range of local and national partners. The outcomes of the exercise have proved very valuable and have influenced the development of the current Framework.
The Scottish Government is now planning a Scotland-wide pandemic flu exercise towards the end of 2008 so that we can assess how well the lessons to date have been applied.
In addition to the guidance we are issuing, I would now like to talk about the other measures which we are taking forward as part of our pandemic flu strategy.
We have already signed advance contracts with pharmaceutical companies to guarantee a supply of vaccine at a time when there will be significant international demand. However, a vaccine against the specific pandemic flu strain can only be developed once the strain of virus has been identified.
We will continue to fund these contracts, but as it may take 3 to 6 months before a vaccine starts to become available we must also look at other options for protecting the Scottish population.
I can therefore announce today that we will invest, over the next three years, and subject to parliamentary approval of our budget, more than £100 million on additional stockpiles of clinical countermeasures to protect the public and workers caring for those who are ill.
These will include antiviral medicines, antiobiotics, surgical masks and disposable respirators.
Antiviral medicines will be a first line of defence against pandemic flu. Therefore, we intend to increase the Scottish antiviral medicine stockpile from 25% to 60% population coverage. This will mean that, even if the pandemic virus is particularly severe, we will be able to provide treatment for everyone who requires it. We will also consider, in light of further scientific advice, whether we need to go further and increase the size of the stockpile.
Research has shown that antiviral medicines can reduce the duration and severity of seasonal flu. Treating patients with antiviral medicines should also reduce complications. As well as safeguarding the health of some of the most vulnerable people in our society, this will go some way towards easing the pressure on our health services who will be coping with a vast increase in demand during a pandemic.
Despite the use of antiviral medicines, some patients will still be unfortunate enough to catch pneumonia and similar infections. To save lives we must therefore also ensure that there are enough antibiotics to treat these people effectively. It will be too late to start stockpiling medicines after a pandemic has broken out - this is something that we must do now.
The World Health Organisation has recommended that countries stockpile a range of antibiotics, not least because it is likely that the global supply chain will be severely disrupted during a pandemic.
To reduce deaths and treat complications we are therefore planning to establish a stockpile of antibiotics for an influenza pandemic.
As part of our wider pandemic flu strategy, the Scottish Government is also looking at how best to maintain health and community care services during a pandemic. To save lives, it will be vital to protect those working in the health and community care sectors. These workers will be in the front line, caring for those with pandemic flu and we must ensure that they are suitably protected so that services can continue.
The World Health Organisation advises that health workers should wear facemasks when caring for patients with flu and use disposable respirators when carrying out certain clinical procedures.
Therefore, we plan to stockpile disposable respirators and surgical facemasks for health and community care workers.
In addition to these measures we are also reviewing the latest scientific developments to see if we can further improve our pandemic flu response. The science underpinning the development and potential use of pre-pandemic vaccine has recently been reviewed by experts from around the world. Its success will depend on how much protection it gives against the pandemic virus.
At the moment the Scottish Government has a stockpile of 270,000 doses of H5N1 vaccine for healthcare workers. We will consider the ongoing work in this area and look at whether it would be beneficial to increase our stockpile to cover other sections of the population.
We are focussing on long term measures to protect the Scottish population and will continue to review and develop our plans. I am confident that the package of measures I have outlined today will ensure that Scotland is in the best possible position to respond to a pandemic.