Information relating to Covid-19 within the Service

Freedom of Information Request

Reference

FOI/99620

Request Date

05 Mar 2021

Information Requested

Please provide me with the number of paramedics who have tested positive for Covid-19 this year (March 2020 - December 2020 included), and separate this into health board areas and the different months?

Response

The safety of our staff and patients is our top priority and our staff adhere to strict Government guidelines, including wearing the correct PPE kit, observing appropriate social distancing and rigorously following infection control procedures around vehicles and ambulance stations.

The Scottish Ambulance Service follows the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 testing protocols for NHS employees and as such, any of our staff who are symptomatic can access testing rapidly through NHS testing procedures.

More widely on health and wellbeing, we have developed a robust programme of support and a wide range of initiatives to help. Managers work closely with staff to encourage them to report any concerns about their welfare and we provide assistance through these initiatives to give staff as much support as we can to help them with any ongoing issues they may have. This includes access to occupational health services and professional counselling where needed.

Based on the period March 2020 to December 2020, a total 199 paramedics* have been recorded as Covid positive.

*The definition of a paramedic is defined by the job grade set in our Global Rostering system. Figures provided are “literal” to the data held and include the cumulative figure of staff cases recorded in the system against Covid -19 as reason.

At this time the Scottish Ambulance Service cannot say for certain if the figures provided above include all members of staff within the National Organisation that may test positive. The reason for this is that not all members of staff are managed under one Central system - therefore there may be some cases that have not been provided on our Global Rostering System.

Caution should therefore be applied when interpreting these figures.