Scottish Government

To:

Chief Executives of NHS Boards

cc Infection Control Managers

8 November 2007

Dear Chief Executive

HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATED INFECTION - MANAGEMENT OF INCIDENTS AND OUTBREAKS

As you know, all hospitals and NHS Boards must have rigorous policies in place for dealing with incidents and outbreaks of infection. The recent spate of occurrences in a number of our hospitals reminds me of the need to ensure that good communication channels are in place so that senior officials in the Scottish Government Health Directorate and Cabinet Secretaries in the Scottish Cabinet are kept aware of all major incidents and outbreaks in the hospital setting, as and when they occur, which will also help ensure that they can respond timeously to any immediate media enquiries.

Please could you therefore ensure that all members of your Incident Management Team and Infection Control Team are advised of the need to inform the key contacts below in the Scottish Government of major incidents and outbreaks of infection occur. All outbreaks should, of course, also be reported where appropriate to HPS both to obtain their expert support and advice, and to ensure reporting through the national outbreak surveillance scheme. The risk management and communications criteria set out in the Watt Matrix (2002) still stand. More formal guidance on dealing with incidents and outbreaks will be issued by the HAI Task Force to NHS Boards in the near future.

Key contacts:

Carmel Sheriff, Regional Performance Manager (West Boards), Carmel.Sheriff@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

George McLachlan, Regional Performance Manager (East Boards), George.Mclachlan@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Dr Peter Christie, Senior Medical Officer: Peter.Christie@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Callum Percy, HAI Policy Lead: Callum.Percy@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Andrew Slorance, Communications Manager: Andrew.Slorance@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

communicationshealthandwellbeing@scotland.gsi.gov.uk (For evenings, weekends and public holidays, the Duty Communications Officer should be contacted on 0131 556 8400)

I do not need to remind you that we are now heading towards winter when we often see a peak of activity of certain types of infection such as norovirus. With this in mind, I would urge you to ensure that your Board undertakes an immediate and thorough review of its local infection control policies to help minimise the risk of any outbreaks occurring.

I have copied this letter to the colleagues identified above and I would ask them to ensure that all their staff are kept informed.

Yours sincerely

Paul Martin

Chief Nursing Officer and Interim Director of Health Workforce