Seòmar agus comataidhean

This information is not held centrally.

However, information provided in boards'' fatal accident inquiry action plans indicates the following liaison nurses for people with a learning disability are in post.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran	3 acute liaison nurses
NHS Borders	1 acute liaison nurse
NHS Fife	1 acute liaison nurse
NHS Forth Valley	1 acute liaison nurse
NHS Grampian	1 acute liaison nurse
NHS Highland	1 acute liaison nurse
NHS Lanarkshire	1 acute liaison nurse
NHS Lothian	2 acute liaison nurses
NHS Tayside	Consultant nurse with 50% clinical time for acute liaison

 

These plans also indicate other areas are considering the appointment of liaison nurses or other ways of delivering better care in general and acute hospitals.

We have no information on where the current posts are based.

The Fair for All agenda seeks to ensure that whatever the individual circumstances of people''s lives, they have access to the right health services for their needs.

Guidance entitled Achieving fair access was produced and issued to the NHS by the Fair for All “ Disability team in April 2007 and is available at http://www.healthscotland.com/documents/2033.aspx.

Section 4 of the guidance covers Accessible service delivery and Section 4.4 provides advice on Admission to health services.

The six strands of the Fair for All initiative were mainstreamed within NHS Health Scotland with effect from 1 April 2008.

The Scottish Government is supporting NHS boards to take forward a change programme to address the health inequalities facing people with a learning disability and/or autism spectrum disorder. A learning network of NHS boards will give them a forum to share learning and good practice including the role and effectiveness of liaison nurses.

Pilot visits are anticipated to commence in May 2009 with the visit schedule fully operational from September 2009. All acute hospitals will receive at least one announced and one unannounced visit within a three year cycle.

The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate will operate independently of the Scottish Government and of NHS boards which will be the subject of its inspections. The reports, findings and recommendations of the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate will be published independently.

The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate will require NHS boards to publish an improvement plan to ensure all necessary action is taken. There is a clear intention to ensure rigorous follow-up on findings and recommendations through scrutiny and challenge of NHS board action plans and on the basis of further announced and unannounced visits to provide necessary levels of assurance and accountability. The chief inspector will be able to raise specific concerns directly with Scottish ministers and an escalation process will be in place.

The post of Chief Inspector of the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate was advertised in The Herald and The Scotsman on 24 March 2009 and the Sunday Herald and Scotland on Sunday on 29 March 2009, with a closing date of 6 April 2009. The post was also advertised in S1Jobs.com and the NHS (SHOW) website and internally in the NHS.

The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate will publish its detailed operational arrangements for undertaking inspections when these have been finalised following the appointment of the chief inspector.

The Chief Inspector of the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate will be supported by regional inspectors and associated inspectors, including members of the public, and a range of specialists and experts reflecting the need to ensure that appropriate standards in the care environment, with regards to healthcare associated infection, are being achieved.

The regional inspector posts were advertised on 24 April 2009 and associate inspector posts were advertised the week beginning Monday 29 April 2009.

National guidance requires the setting of local trigger thresholds for each clinical area. Following the recent outbreak these are now in place across NHS Orkney and have been set at two cases for each ward within any 30 day period.