Official Report · Chamber
General Question Time
This is the draft Official Report. The final version may differ.
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I note that I have done voluntary work on Lyme disease for various different charities.
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the early diagnosis of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. (S7O-00499)
The Scottish Government is taking forward a range of measures to support the early diagnosis of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses and to raise awareness among the public and healthcare professionals. That includes promoting educational resources for healthcare professionals, such as the “Introduction to Ticks and the Diseases they Carry” eLearning resource, which is aimed at all health and social care professionals including general practitioners and is intended to help to improve awareness, recognition and diagnosis of those conditions.
We continue to raise public awareness of tick bite prevention through campaigns and public health messaging carried out during the summer months, especially during Lyme disease awareness month in May. In addition, we work very closely with Public Health Scotland and expert partners through the Scottish health protection network to strengthen preparedness for vector-borne diseases.
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Lyme disease blood tests are widely acknowledged to be unreliable, and the true number of those suffering with Lyme disease is therefore unknown. However, UK research indicates that it could be at least three times the recorded figure, meaning that thousands of people are being misdiagnosed and refused treatment.
How can the Scottish Government improve research so as to improve the accuracy of the blood tests? Will the minister commit to carrying out the action that is needed to save those people’s lives?
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The Scottish Government recognises the importance of research in improving the understanding of Lyme disease and other vector-borne diseases. Any proposals for additional funding for that type of research would need to be considered alongside wider budget priorities.
I know that the member is in the smallest party in the Parliament, but the Lib Dems do have some power to ask for things in the budget and to see whether we can shift Government spending to the issue.
The type of each item (debate, statement, questions, members’ business and so on) and the times shown are worked out by this site from headings, the chair’s opening words and the Official Report’s running timestamps. They are not the Parliament’s own classification. Text: the Scottish Parliament Official Report.