 The final item of business this evening is a member's business debate on motion 12371 in the name of Sandish Gulhane on international long Covid awareness day 2024. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put. I invite members wishing to participate to press the request-to-speak buttons, and I call on Dr Gulhane to open the debate around seven minutes. Thank you. I wish to draw members' attention to my register of interests as a practicing and HSGP, and I'd like to thank all members of the cross-party group on long Covid for their much valued work over the past two and a half years, especially my co-convener, Alex Cole-Hamilton and Jackie Baillie. On 1 March 2020, Scotland confirmed its first case of Covid-19. I wish to pay my respects to the friends and families of over 17,600 Scots who died after contracting this horrible virus. Today, to commemorate international long Covid day, we're focused on addressing the Scottish Government's failure to adequately support over 187,000 Scots who survived Covid but are yet to fully recover, 187,000 Scots of whom 10,000 are children. Patients and their families, some, have come and joined us today in the gallery. They have come here and it will be a sacrifice for the rest of the week because they have used all their energy up this week to come and protest and support, but they don't want to hear platitudes. I hosted a drop-in session in Parliament earlier this afternoon for long Covid Scotland, and the patients and families told us they were weary. They're tired of having to fight for help. A lot were angry. They feel their pleas fell on deaf ears. They spent three years being phobbed off. They've heard the announcements, promises of cash, but they continue to suffer physical and emotional pain and distress and struggle to access specialist support and rehabilitation services. Many are economically devastated by the condition, including nurses and paramedics, some of whom I met today, infected at work, now unable to work. In our long Covid debate in March last year, we highlighted a lack of consistency with the SNP Government's approach to supporting long Covid patients. Their approach is piecemeal. It's not streamlined, and patients are truly feeling abandoned by this Government, by the resulting uncoordination and inconsistent care, with no national approach. As for children, the charity Long Covid Kids tells us there are still no spaces for young people, no single point of contact, as promised. We understand from Chest Heart Stroke Scotland that 82% of long Covid sufferers encountered difficulty accessing services. 43% not referred to rehab services are lack of overall information on self-management of their condition. 71% of long Covid patients surveyed said their mental health deteriorated. 40% said long Covid's affected their ability to work and earn a living, and we know that many struggle to access social security payments. For those fortunate enough not to be impacted by long Covid, let me briefly describe some of the symptoms that patients are living with—severe fatigue, dizziness, brain fog, pain in their joints, poor mental health, slurred speech, indescribable headaches, fluctuating heart rates, numbness, gastrointestinal issues. Long Covid is a very complex condition, and that's why our response must be shaped by best clinical practice, not managers nor being counters. Continuing to pass patients like batons between services and departments with no one taking responsibility won't wash for our visitors in the gallery. They've had enough. I'm particularly upset about the Scottish Government's poor response because we could see the problem unfolding and shared solutions. Long Covid was the focus of my maiden speech in Parliament on May 27, 2021, by June I'd authored a long Covid paper, a proposed action plan to invest in a network of specialist clinics which include virtual clinics and app-based treatment services, ring-fence funding for long Covid care and research. We wanted to get the very best from across the UK and bring it here. We needed a clear rehab pathway, including an MDT with GPs and physios and OTs. On 9 September 2021, the Health Secretary at the time, Mr Yusif, announced £10 million for long Covid. An FOI has shown that instead of being over three years, this has now gone over four years. Almost a year after this in March 14, 2023, and you'll recall the political landscape had shifted, Health Secretary, whom Mr Yusif was now First Minister, then 175,000 Scots were struggling with long Covid, and we were informed that this funding had provided £20,000 for public health intelligence gathering in the Western Isles, £120,000 for self-management resources and peer support in the Highlands, £178,000 to develop a long Covid rehab pathway in Fife. But we have seen that a total of just £1.1 million has been spent by health boards and organisations from the fund during 2022-23. This included an award of £144,000 to Covid aid, an online support group that was closed down a year later. Only NHS Lanarkshire received more long Covid money for treating patients in 22 than this website. Meanwhile, during the financial year 2023-24, over £2.7 million had been allocated, including £600,000 to NHS Glasgow and Clyde, £370,000 to NHS Lothian. But what matters is not the money, but the action and outcomes, because patients are not spreadsheets, and from what we heard today, patients do not feel as though they are getting access to rehab, they are getting access to the treatments and the people that they think and believe and actually deserve to get. We know long Covid is complex, we know that research is ongoing, but, for me, the most important thing that we can do is listen to people who have long Covid, who are suffering, who are struggling and try to involve them, try to get them into our treatment centres and give them the support that they deserve. Thank you, and I move the motion in my name. Thank you, Dr Gilhane. We now move to the open debate. I call first Bill Kidd to be followed by Jackie Baillie up to four minutes. Mr Kidd. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I'd like to start by thanking our colleague Sandesh Gilhane for bringing today's debate to the chamber. I do have to apologise for not having been to meet people earlier today as I was out of the Parliament in a long established visit to a university that I had to speak to. However, I have listened to what has been said. This is an important issue because, as the motion states, it is estimated that 187,000 people have long Covid in Scotland and 10,000 of whom are children. I agree with the member's point that there is not enough awareness of the debilitating effects of long Covid and the huge number of people suffering from its effects. In this vein, I hope that the international day of long Covid awareness, as well as today's debate, will both help to better inform people in general and provide focus for those investigating and seeking to develop treatments for this illness. On the levels of government involvement, I believe that when attempting to evaluate any progress or when levelling any perceived criticisms, it is essential to recognise that long Covid was born out of an unprecedented global pandemic and was discovered only in the last couple of years, although, obviously, I will leave the minister to talk about how it is being addressed by government. I do not say that to distract from the seriousness of the issue that we are debating today or the suffering of so many with long Covid, but simply in the hope that when we debate this issue, we also give recognition to the fact that, as with any new diagnosis, it will take some time possibly to develop treatments for it and to deliver that treatment that we need to do it as soon as we can. I agree that here in Scotland we need to do everything that we can to understand and treat long Covid, but I feel that we also have to make more of an effort to look at this issue as a continuation of the pandemic, and it is an issue that needs a co-ordinated response. When Covid-19 struck in the world real from its effects, we also came together to identify, understand and develop a vaccine against the virus and then to roll out vaccines programmes across on a global level. We need to approach long Covid in the same way, for while here in Scotland we know that over 180,000 people are estimated to suffer from this disease and illness. Globally, this figure is over 65 million by Conservative issues, which is probably a great deal more. Clearly, this is a global issue and needs a global response, and I hope that Scotland can be at the heart of this. The 2023 demystifying long Covid international conference took place in December in Madrid, and would Scotland and the Scottish Government or indeed our Parliament consider staging such an event to bring together experts here and indeed globally to understand better and work together in the development of effective treatments? Scottish universities have a global reputation for excellence, and the work that they do with medical science companies is second to none. Putting Scotland at the heart of global efforts to research and develop effective treatments for long Covid would have numerous benefits, helping those suffering first and foremost. It would also benefit our education and farmer sectors by attracting global funding and ultimately helping to fund a number of the actions that are being called for in today's motion. I want to see Scotland take a lead in research and development, and to make this happen I would be keen to hear from the minister on the obvious and potential benefits of placing Scotland front and centre. Every day we learn more, but today it was reported that studies showed that active Covid antigens were found in the blood of long Covid sufferers up to 14 months after infection and for more than two years in tissue samples, potentially revolutionising how we treat this disgusting disease. Let's put Scotland at the centre of the revolution and thank you very much. Thank you Mr Kidd. I now call on Jackie Baillie to be followed by Brian Whittle around four minutes Ms Baillie. Thank you. Let me join with others on congratulating Sandis Gulhane for securing this debate and for the considered view he offered to the chamber. I also say to Bill Kidd that there isn't very much that I would disagree with in terms of his contribution as well, but let me also thank Long Covid Scotland and Long Covid Kids Scotland for the work that they do all year round to advocate on behalf of those living with Long Covid, and I acknowledge them in the gallery this afternoon. That, of course, is the third time that we have debated Long Covid in the Scottish Parliament and it is a matter of considerable regret that very little has changed since the first time we did so other than we are now on to our third cabinet secretary. There has been no new funding, no new research or treatments offered and the Scottish Government has even stopped gathering regular and frequent data on how many people are affected. Disappointingly, it has never been interested in gathering data on prevalence amongst children. The result of that is that we are effectively in the dark about how many people are truly living with Long Covid with estimates in the region of 187,000 adults. Whilst we might not know exact numbers, what we do know is that each reinfection of Covid-19 increases the chance of Long Covid and around one in 10 Covid infections lead to long-term symptoms, so no one is immune to this risk and yet vaccination, which is acknowledged as the best form of protection, is now restricted to those over 75 and people who are immunosuppressed. Long Covid is not something that will just go away, or that the Government can pretend that it is not a big deal, as it appears to do with similar illnesses like ME and CFS. The truth is that, due to the paltry level of support from the Scottish Government, the NHS is failing to adequately support Scotland's Long Covid population. A report published by Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland last week, referenced by Sandish Gullhane, found that 72 per cent of people with Long Covid said that there was support that they needed but weren't able to access. 82 per cent encountered some kind of difficulty in accessing services with some struggling to access any medical support, and 38 per cent said that their doctor wasn't able to provide guidance on available support. That's not good enough. The Long Covid support fund, which was £10 million over three years, is now entering its final year, although I hear that it may be stretched over four, perhaps the minister could clarify that. However, single-year funding has led to underspens and difficulty in recruiting staff. Any board wanting to run a specific Long Covid clinic has been told no, and frankly, £12.88 per person is simply not enough. What has happened to the £27 million in Barnett consequentials for Long Covid, which is estimated to have come from the UK Government. Properly funding for Long Covid treatment is not just a medical necessity, it's an economic one. A report written by the European Commission in January this year found that Long Covid symptoms hugely affect the capacity to participate in the labour market. Chest Heart and Stroke's survey confirms this, indicating that 40 per cent of people living with Long Covid are unable to work at all due to their condition, which equates to as many as 72,000 Scots exiting the labour market since 2020. However, simply the SNP Government is failing those with Long Covid, and warm words, frankly, won't cut it anymore. The Scottish Government must take this crisis in hand, properly fund Long Covid services, ensure accurate data collection and implement the recommendations from the Covid-19 Committee's Long Covid report as a matter of urgency. We must also commit to improving public health messaging on Long Covid, fund new co-produced research with lived experience at its heart and ensure that there is equitable access to co-produced health and social care services with the specialist multidisciplinary teams that are required. It is time to properly treat and fund Long Covid once and for all. I sincerely hope that the minister and the cabinet secretary are listening, because Long Covid sufferers will not go away quietly no matter how much the Government may want them to, and frankly, they cannot wait any longer, so please act. For bringing this debate to the chamber, I think that looking back at my time on the Covid Recovery Committee when we did an investigation into Long Covid and listening to some of the sufferers that we spoke with out in front of the Parliament, it is disquieting to hear some of the same things being said these years later and the fact that we do not seem to have made any progress at all. One of the things that really struck me was that many of those who are suffering from Long Covid are the essential workers for which we were lied on during Covid. Those are people like our healthcare workers, our teachers and our police. Many of those who are unable to work now are many of them losing jobs. When 187,000 people are now estimated to be suffering from Long Covid, given the debate that we just came out of before around the economically inactive and how we want to move on our economy, surely that in itself is a reason why we should be taking Long Covid a lot more seriously than we currently do, because it seems to me at the time—I'm going back now, I don't know how long it was—three years ago when we had the Long Covid inquiry, one of the things that was said then is that it was a condition that wasn't being recognised. The health profession was a condition where they didn't know where to go to, they didn't know where to seek advice. There was only one Long Covid nurse in the whole of Scotland, and then here we are again all these years later, and this time later, hearing the very same thing. We haven't moved on, it is disappointing. We need specialist treatment, we need to gather the data, and not just data within Scotland, we need to understand the research and the global data. Again, those are calls that came from the Long Covid Committee report two or three years ago, whenever that happened to be these are the same things that we were saying two or three years ago. I recognise, of course, that the healthcare system is under stress. We recognise that, but I think that with 187,000 sufferers, and I have to confess that having had Long Covid on a much, much smaller level than some of the people that we spoke to today, and it still affects me now, it still affects my system. If you are—and I say that I don't in any way shape or form—I have the same issues as the people whom we met today, but if that is affecting me two or three years later still affecting me every now and again, I can only imagine what it is like for those who have got this condition seriously. Some of the things that they talk about, joint pain, chest pain, abdominal pain, fog, unable to think straight and headaches, and it comes back and it revisits these people so often. We need to take it much more seriously than we currently do. We need a pathway, a pathway for diagnosis and a pathway for treatment, as I understand there was £10 million put into Long Covid, but that was over four years. £2.5 million a year is not going to scratch the surface of this. We need to start looking at diagnosis, we need to start looking at path, we need to start looking at research and gathering that data, and we need a dedicated healthcare professionals with the experience in Long Covid and Long Covid treatment, because still to this day many of our healthcare professionals are still unaware of how to diagnose Long Covid and how to treat it. I say once again thank Sandesh Gulhane for bringing this to the chamber. In the audience up in the gallery there for taking the time out, I know that they will pay for that. Hopefully, to the Government, it is time that we had a plan to deal with this for once and for all. I call Beatrice Wishart to be followed by Richard Leonard around four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and thank you to Sandesh Gulhane for bringing this important debate to the chamber this afternoon. I would like to offer my thoughts to the lives lost and those continuing to live with Long Covid. A recent report from Cheshart and Stroke Scotland highlights that Covid is still shattering lives with around 180,000 people in Scotland suffering from Long Covid. Far be it for me to correct Jackie Baillie, but the Liberal Democrats brought the first Long Covid debate in this chamber in November 2021. At the time, Alex Cole-Hamilton said, and I quote, I am dismayed however that we are already 18 or 19 months into the pandemic and it is at least 12 months since the first sufferers of the condition that we now know as Long Covid had that condition identified. It is disappointing therefore that it has taken opposition time in a member's business debate to lead for the first time on this important subject in the chamber. The cross-party group on Long Covid, of which I am a member, continues to advocate for those living with Long Covid and raised the issue repeatedly with the Scottish Government, along with Long Covid Scotland and Long Covid Kids Scotland. Presiding Officer, I am sure that we all know someone who has had their life turned upside down due to getting Covid. Some people are now entering their fifth year of a new phase in their life and I am sure that all of us have had constituents reach out with the situation they find themselves in, adjusting to their new reality and describing feeling helpless as they try to restore some of their previous wellbeing. I have previously mentioned a constituent of mine who raised with me the lack of dedicated care for children living with Long Covid. The parent told me and I quote, Our son is very unwell again and it's utterly devastating to see. The lack of support for children with Long Covid and their families in Scotland is a national disgrace. Long Covid has affected people of all ages and that has had a profound effect on young people living with Long Covid in terms of their development, socialisation and learning, as well as, obviously, their health. The Covid-19 recovery committee's report on Long Covid highlighted the lack of research or guidance on the impact of Long Covid on children and young people. Another constituent that I met recently has had Long Covid for 14 months. The life that he had before is not the same as the life that he has now. He said to give that up, including his job, his home, his sport and he relies now on support from his family. He has no complaints about the support from his GP but is surprised at the slow progress that has been made in the treatment and diagnosis pathway here in Scotland. People are spending life savings on seeking support from private clinics, both elsewhere in the UK and in Europe, due to the postcode lottery of treatment and support. Put simply, if you've got Long Covid in Scotland, the Scottish Government has allocated around £16 towards your treatment and care in totality. The amount of money spent on the condition in England is nearly 10 times what it is here. To conclude, we need to do more to recognise that Covid is still amongst us and do more to stop people and children from catching it in the first place. The Scottish Government needs to adopt a comprehensive and fully funded Long Covid strategy to support those living with Long Covid. Such a strategy should build awareness among employers so that they can recognise it for the disability that it is. We should be getting occupational therapy and social care services to everyone who needs it, particularly those managing the condition from home. All of that needs to work hand in hand with enhanced psychological support to recognise the impact that it has on people's mental health. Richard Leonard, to be followed by Ben Macpherson, is in four minutes. I thank Sandesh Gulhane for bringing in this important motion to Parliament. The shadow of Covid-19 hangs over all of us. It has left its mark. Frontline workers not supplied with the personal protective equipment which there was a legal duty of care to provide. Our most vulnerable citizens, care home residents, placed in unnecessary mortal danger, their basic human rights denied and discarded. Parents of critically ill children, unable to be with them in hospital emergency departments, children unable to say goodbye to dying parents, funerals unmarked. All of the while, both Governments chose not to follow world health organisation advice, chose not to follow the basic principles of public health and infectious disease control, chose not to test and the shadow is still with us. As members of this Parliament, we meet some extraordinary people and I can think of no group who have made a bigger impression on me than the long Covid support group which meets in Brighton's village Parish Church Hall. For too long ignored as individuals, they got organised as a collective. Up and against bureaucracy, they adopted the values of self-help, mutual aid and support but they provide a united voice as well so that where once they were invisible and silent they are now highly visible and justifiably vocal. But when I meet them, they tell me that they are still falling through the gaps of what they always believed to be a cradle to the grave system. The first time I met the group, I spoke to a woman with long Covid who still worked night shifts, was now in her 60s, had worked since she left school at 16, who was struggling with both her physical and her mental health but who simply could not afford to retire. It could make you weep. Miss diagnosis is common. All too often, women are told that they have the menopause not long Covid. One of my old shop stewards who is in the group put it starkly when he said, if you are thinking about going out, you have to think about getting back. Many in the group now have chronic respiratory conditions and we know that long-term conditions are even less adequately funded than acute care in our public health system. The one ray of light which shone through the shadow of Covid-19 was the rekindling of the principles of solidarity, of sacrifice, of human co-operation, that it did not reach those lawmakers who secretly and criminally organised mass social gatherings, then tried to cover them up and even now show no contrition should not surprise us, but it should stir us into action. Because there is a better way. We cannot write all of the wrongs of the past but we can tackle the injustices of the present. That is not merely a job for government. It is the duty of every single member of this Parliament but we must all be led by long-coverage sufferers and their families like those I meet in Brightons. We need to empower them, give them agency so that our value systems, our institutional forms, our political response is shaped by them, driven by them and all bound together with the solemn guiding principle that we remember the dead but that we fight for the living. I commend colleagues for bringing this motion to the chamber. I am looking forward to hearing the Government's response to building on the funding and planning that has already been put forward and what more is going to be done to support my constituents with long Covid. However, as part of those considerations, I wanted to particularly raise awareness of a group of people in my constituency who have been in touch with me for some time, and I have sought to represent them with ME. Unfortunately, that is a growing community in my constituency and internationally, indeed, because of the parallels and synergies between the suffering of those with long Covid and those with ME. I just wanted to emphasise briefly in this debate that it is important that ME is considered in tandem with how we support people with long Covid and that it is not forgotten. There are more and more cases internationally of ME since the outbreak of the pandemic. Those are areas that require particular attention individually as conditions and have various symptoms within those conditions themselves. However, the same debilitating effects are present with those with ME and long Covid. Those people need our help, and I am looking forward to hearing what further actions in terms of research, support and treatment the Scottish Government may be able to provide. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I also thank Sandesh Gulhane for bringing this debate tonight. Like Beatrice Wishart, maybe one day we will have a Government-broad debate on this, and that would show that they are taking it seriously. While the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 public health emergency to be over in May 2023, Covid has never gone away. Covid-19 has now moved to its endemic phase. The Scottish Government lifted its measures to deal with the pandemic in August 2021, yet still years later, for the estimated 187,000 people in Scotland who are living with long Covid, the pandemic never ended. Long Covid can be life-changing for those who are affected by it. It causes fatigue and breathlessness among other symptoms. It can completely change the lives of those who before were perfectly healthy, and we have seen that at the drop-in session that we had earlier today. Long Covid can affect anyone, and it can affect them after any exposure that they have had of Covid. An estimated one in 10 cases of Covid develop into long Covid, like one of my constituents, Helen Goss, who is having to take legal action against NHS Grampian because of the poor or non-existent long Covid treatment that her daughter is receiving. Helen has, regrettably, forced down the routes of legal action as it seemed to be the only viable option to progress and secure the healthcare that her daughter Anna urgently requires and rightfully deserves. As a parent, I cannot imagine what Helen is going through. She desperately wants help for her daughter and must feel frustrated at the lack of help that she is receiving. What has it come to that parents are having to go to court to get medical assistance? The NHS is letting those people down and the Government is letting those people down. But Helen is not the only one. Today, I have been talking to other parents and grandparents who are having to fight to get the treatment that they deserve. How can this be right? 10,000 kids are being let down. We cannot leave them behind. To protect people from the detrimental impact of long Covid, prevention is key. Let me draw the Scottish Government's attention back to the petition from December 23 by Sally Whitter. The petition called on the Scottish Government to do more to help to prevent the spread of Covid and by the extension the likelihood of people developing long Covid. We all know that one of the best ways to prevent the spread of Covid is to increase ventilation. In NHS England, we are seeing the Government encourage the use of HEPA filters in public buildings. NHS England recognises the important role that those filters can play in reducing the transmission of Covid-19. Despite HEPA filters having an efficiency level of over 99 per cent, that is not being replicated in NHS Scotland. The only ventilation method that was proposed by the devolved Government was on the bottom off of classroom doors. The Scottish Government must ensure a joined-up approach that brings to the forefront mitigating measures such as greater ventilation in new buildings and upgrades to ventilation in existing buildings. Long Covid has a debilitating impact on those who have contracted it. The socio-economic impact is obvious. It stops people from working, and it has a long-term effect on local economies, a point that Brian Whittle made earlier. Prevention is key to ensuring that people can avoid contracting long Covid. As we have heard, this is the third debate that we are having on this subject, and it is time that the Scottish Government listen to campaigners and finally act. For those who are suffering, they cannot wait any more. I call the final speaker who opened the debate for MacGregor around four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I had not originally been down to speak, so I appreciate you being able to bring me in. I also want to thank Sandesh Gokhani for bringing forward the motion to the chamber on this extremely important issue. The minister will be aware, as well as a predecessor, that I have been raising a case, a constituency case for a while, of a young man, Jonathan McMillan, who was only at high school when he contracted Covid. As a result of long Covid, his whole life has been turned round, totally changed. For long periods, he was not able to get out of bed. His mum, Tracy McMillan, who has been an avid campaigner for Jonathan and, by extent, long Covid, has spoken to me about how that has impacted him, his life and his future. They have had to fight for absolutely everything. They have had to fight with medical professionals, local authorities and others just to be heard. For example, recently, Jonathan has got a POTS, but they have had to fight to get a recognition of that and get appropriate treatment and appointments, a fight that is still on-going. Jonathan and his mum please know that you will always have my support with that as your MSP. However, Brickwall, after Brickwall, it is because, as other members have said today, it is a lack of understanding what are the symptoms, what are not the symptoms and what do people know. I do not think that this is the fault of professionals out there. I think that there needs to be more done around long Covid so that people in the profession know what it is that they are dealing with when somebody presents. I think that we need more research in this area. We need to learn more about it. The minister also knows—I know that she will not make me say that because I will come here to stand up for my constituents and issues that they bring to me. The minister knows—the Government knows—that I think that people with long Covid are being left, and I think that we need to do more. Scotland is probably not unique in this. We are catching up as we come out of the pandemic, but I think that Bill Kidd made some really important points. Scotland is used to leading away on things. We are part of the UK, but we are leading away on the vaccine in tackling Covid as an actual disease itself. I think that we need to do more to tackle long Covid and lead the way again and get in front of this. I think that Bill Kidd has a really great suggestion. It was his speech that prompted me to press my button, because I have spoken and raised the case of Jonathan several times in the chamber, but I think that there is a possibility for bringing together a summit in Scotland minister and bringing together experts and trying to learn what we know about long Covid, what we do not know, what could work and what could not work, and trying to link it into ME and other similar diseases. It has been McPherson brought up, because I think that there are some indications that there might be overlap there. Let us lead the way in this. Let us be bold. Other parties do not play a blame game, but we are not doing enough. We are not doing X, Y and Z. Let us all work together on this across the chamber and across society, because there is a growing number of people who need it. Every single member here will have had long Covid constituents and will continue to get more, so it is a duty upon all of us to try and get this right and to back the minister on how she takes this forward and trying to work together. I invite Jenny Minter to respond to the debate, minister, around seven minutes, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to reflect, too, on those who have lost loved ones through Covid and those who are living with long Covid. I would like to thank Zandesh Gilhaney for bringing this important debate, and everyone for their very considered contributions. I, too, would like to welcome those in the public gallery. I recognise that, for many of you living with long Covid, it would not have been a small undertaking for you to travel here to be with us this evening. I was pleased to spend my lunchtime with members of Long Covid Scotland and others outside the Parliament this afternoon and, later on, listening to people's thoughts, concerns and disappointment at the drop-in session. I would like to thank all of you from my heart for being so candid in sharing the challenges that you live with on a daily basis, and for the constructive provocations that you gave to me to consider. Thank you. The contributions to this evening's debate have clearly highlighted the significant impact that long Covid continues to have on lives of adults and children living with the condition across Scotland. I will be meeting with Long Covid Scotland and also Long Covid Kids Scotland, including Fulton MacGregor's constituent later this month. I understand that symptoms vary considerably and can at times be unpredictable and unrelenting. I understand that long Covid can impact every aspect of daily life, not just limited to physical health, and I have been struck by stories of the impact on relationships, education and employment, as we are reminded particularly from the briefing that Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland provided for this debate. International Long Covid Day, marked officially later this week, is an important milestone in bringing those issues into sharp focus. So, too, was the Covid recovery committee's consideration of the subject. I would like to thank those who took the opportunities, the MSPs, the stakeholders and those with lived experience, who all contributed to that process. Since the publication of the committee's report, progress has been made in a number of key areas, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to outline some of them. I would like to touch on the funding. We remain committed to delivering the £10 million long Covid support fund in Fulton, as members may be aware that NHS built boards do not require to fully utilise the long Covid support funding made available to them over the first year of the fund, and we have therefore made plans to allocate the remainder of the fund over this coming financial year and the next one. Going forward, we will also consider baselining long Covid support funding for NHS boards at a level to be determined based on progress made by NHS boards over 2023-24. Jackie Baillie My recollection, and please do correct me if I'm wrong, is that the underspend in the first year was allocated very quickly to a range of organisations. Are you stretching the 10 million over four years because there isn't that spare money in the system? You allocated it. Minister. I think it's fair to say that not every board spent its allocation, and we are ensuring that they are because it takes a while to employ people as being pointed out in a number of the speeches, but we are committing to spending the £10 million. Also, to Jackie Baillie's point, it's simply not true that the Scottish Government received any consequentials relating directly to the resource that NHS England allocated for long Covid, as this was not new funding. If I may continue, on public information, we have worked with NHS Inform Scotland's national health information service to update the range of long Covid information available on their site. That followed a user research exercise to allow us to better understand the experiences of those living with long Covid, as well as their suggestions on priorities for further development of the content. In terms of education for healthcare professionals, a suite of updated educational resources has been published on NHS education for Scotland's learning platform, Taurus, to improve healthcare staff's knowledge and understanding of long Covid. Specific to children and young people, the national strategic network for long Covid is currently developing a clinical pathway to support the appropriate assessment, referral and management for children and young people with long Covid symptoms. Once completed, that information will be shared with NHS boards for local implantation. Brian Whittle. I am very grateful to the minister for giving me that. In the long Covid recovery committee's investigation, we took evidence from health boards not just across the UK but across the world and their experiences and how they are dealing with the problem of long Covid, because it is not obviously just here. Are the Scottish Government still doing that? Are we still pulling data and recommendations from around the world? Minister, I will give you the time. I thank Brian Whittle for that intervention, and I will touch a bit on that later on in my response. The debate motion highlighted the importance of clear referral pathways. I can update that 12 out of 14 NHS boards now have long Covid pathways in operation for adults. Elsewhere, boards have well established referral pathways to a range of services that can provide support to people with symptoms resulting from long Covid. Earlier this week, I was very pleased to visit NHS Ayrshire and Arran. Mr Whittle, I think that it might be worthwhile you visiting the service there if you already have. Great. I met the team responsible for the planning and delivery of the board's multidisciplinary long Covid pathway and hear how their utilising funding made available through the Scottish Government's £10 million long Covid support fund. The pathway provides a single point of access for assessment and co-ordinated support to help people to manage their long Covid symptoms. The service has physiotherapy, occupational therapy and nursing support and liaises with primary and secondary care and third sector partners. Clearly, the multidisciplinary team that a number of members have been noting as being important. I certainly felt that having spoken to the team, their commitment to continuous improvement and learning was very obvious. Whether that was through undertaking additional training, learning from and sharing the unique skills and expertise that each member brought to the multidisciplinary team, or learning from the experience of peers and other NHS boards and elsewhere, but also importantly, as a number of people have made in their contributions listening to the patients. In that respect, our national strategic network for long Covid is important in giving our territorial NHS boards a forum for sharing learning and best practice from within and beyond Scotland in developing support and services for people living with the condition, as Mr Whittle suggested. I was also privileged to meet someone who told me about their experience of developing long Covid and the impact it continued to have on their daily life. Hearteningly, they spoke about how the expertise and support provided to them through the long Covid pathway was a significant milestone in their journey with long Covid. The points that Ben McPherson made struck me as well when I was speaking to the patient and the connections that she drew with ME and the debilitating effects that that condition has. Scotland is doing some research in the western in Edinburgh, which I have visited, and I think that that is something for me to maintain in my thought is the connection between ME and the possible connection between ME and long Covid. What struck me were the reflections on the care and compassion of the multidisciplinary team and the value that they placed on to be listened to and validated by the healthcare professionals. I think that that resonates with what a lot of people have said this evening. I want to be clear that I absolutely recognise that there is more to do to ensure that people's experiences of accessing healthcare support are consistent. We remain committed to working closely with our national strategic network, which has commissioned the University of Leeds to support the initial evaluation of long Covid services in Scotland. I also appreciate that the limitations of the treatment approaches that we currently have available globally for long Covid will be a source of frustration for those living with the condition. We need to ensure that treatments are evidence-based. There is still a great deal to be learned regarding long Covid, which is why we are contributing to the worldwide research effort to better understand the condition. Our chief scientist office has awarded a total of around £3.1 million for 11 projects on the long-term effects of Covid-19. That includes projects to better understand the underlying risk factors of long Covid to examine effects on cognitive function, to evaluate rehabilitation approaches and to examine access and to explore how to improve people's support through primary care. I would like to use this opportunity to highlight that the chief scientist's office research funding schemes are open to applications on long Covid, and those would go through CSO's standard independent expert review processes to allow funding decisions to be made. I note the proposal that Fulton MacGregor made with regards to a summit, and I am happy to take that away and speak to my officials with regard to that. I would like to again acknowledge the significant impact that long Covid can have on the lives of people who directly experience it, as well as those closest to them, and reiterate that supporting people living with long Covid remains a priority for this Government. Thank you Minister. That concludes the debate, and I close this meeting of Parliament.