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There are no planned further remedial works on the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine line.

The construction cost of the recent remedial work carried out on the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line is a matter for the contractor. There was no cost to the public purse.

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) provide staff, patients and visitors with a range of information about the importance of using soap and water rather than alcohol gels when in contact with patients who may have contracted a Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).

All healthcare staff participating in the NHS Education for Scotland Cleanliness Champions Programme are provided with training materials on the correct hand washing procedures to follow when in contact with patients with a CDI.

Clear instructions for staff are also contained in HPS Model Infection Control Policies; national hand hygiene campaign leaflets (2009); HPS CDI guidance on prevention and control of Clostridium difficile infection (2009), and information in the Checklist for Preventing and Controlling Clostridium difficile Associated Disease (CDAD) (2008). The links to these documents are as follows:

http://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/haiic/ic/modelinfectioncontrolpolicies.aspx#sicp.

http://www.washyourhandsofthem.com/campaign/campaignleaflets-phase2.html.

http://www.documents.hps.scot.nhs.uk/about-hps/hpn/clostridium-difficile-infection-guidelines.pdf.

http://www.documents.hps.scot.nhs.uk/hai/sshaip/publications/cdad/2008-09-01-cdad-checklist.pdf).

An HPS information leaflet entitled Clostridium difficile Infection Information for Hospital Patients and Visitors (2008) is also available and can be viewed at:

http://www.documents.hps.scot.nhs.uk/hai/sshaip/guidelines/clostridium-difficile/cdiff-patient-info-2008-06.pdf.

Finally, for generic information on hand washing, staff, patients and visitors are able to visit the HPS campaign website www.washyourhandsofthem.com.

My previous answer, S3W-29405, confirmed that the review of the national HAI Task Force will ensure the professional interests involved in supporting delivery of the infection control agenda will be fully represented in overseeing both policy development and operational delivery at national level.

The NHS QIS overview report, Lessons learned from NHS QIS visits to NHS Orkney, NHS Highland and NHS Grampian following Clostridium difficile incidents: Overview Report - June 2009, highlighted the need for establishing a formal HAI improvement programme based on an alliance led by NHS QIS. This programme would help to ensure national coherence and cross-support between HAI and other improvement/implementation programmes and to build on the work already in progress under the Scottish Patient Safety Programme initiative.

A national infection improvement and implementation programme (iiiP) was launched by NHS QIS in December 2009; and the first national learning event for infection control team staff and key players will take place in Glasgow on 17 to 18 February 2010.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on individual losses or thefts from NHS hospitals and the dates they are reported but this information should be held on individual Board Loss Registers. We do however obtain a summary report on such losses from boards each year advising of the number of losses and their total value and the totals reported are shown in the following table.

	Number of Incidents	2007-08 £	Number of Incidents	2008-09 £
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	564	97,567	267	51,256
NHS Borders	7	15,000	7	17,049
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	38	22,980	56	66,686
NHS Fife	158	23,463	86	19,722
NHS Forth Valley	35	11,643	77	79,879
NHS Grampian	10	20,313	11	25,774
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	0	0	10	27,000
NHS Highland	12	3,920	6	787
NHS Lanarkshire	42	9,059	447	66,132
NHS Lothian	65	124,753	29	15,707
NHS Orkney	3	1,236	4	2,016
NHS Shetland	189	1,326	158	4,701
NHS Tayside	107	48,228	99	133,750
NHS West Isles	22	12,181	2	12,370
NHS 24	0	0	70	49
NHS Education Scotland	0	0	1	625
NHS Health	3	9,108	0	0
National Services Scotland	1	300	0	0
Total Losses	1,256	401,077	1,330	523,503

 

The following is the original answer (published on 17 December 2009); see below.

 

The Scottish Government does not collect information on individual losses or thefts from NHS hospitals and the dates they are reported but this information should be held on individual Board Loss Registers. We do however obtain a summary report on such losses from boards each year advising of the number of losses and their total value and the totals reported are shown in the following table.

	Number of Incidents	2007-08 (£)	Number of Incidents	2008-09 (£)
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	564	97,567	264	47,494
NHS Borders	7	15,000	3	313
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	38	22,980	6	16,617
NHS Fife	158	23,463	48	17,141
NHS Forth Valley	35	11,643	24	11,278
NHS Grampian	10	20,313	2	118
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	0	0	1	25,000
NHS Highland	12	3,920	6	787
NHS Lanarkshire	42	9,059	392	65,332
NHS Lothian	65	124,753	55	220
NHS Orkney	3	1,236	4	2,016
NHS Shetland	189	1,326	155	1,223
NHS Tayside	107	48,228	142	125,637
NHS West Isles	22	12,181	2	12,370
NHS 24	0	0	69	46
NHS Health	3	9,108	0	0
National Services Scotland	1	300	0	0
Total Losses	1,256	401,077	1,173	325,592

 

The revised Healthcare Associated Infection Reporting Template (HAIRT) will be the same uniform design for all NHS boards. The short life working group established to review the structure and presentation of the HAIRT will invite members of the public partnership forum to comment of the revised template to ensure it will be easier for the public to understand and follow.

The new testing algorithm for Clostridium difficile used by diagnostic laboratories is instructional in purpose only and does not advise or promote the use of a specific company''s product. It is for each diagnostic laboratory to determine local arrangements.

Current guidance available to NHS boards from Health Facilities Scotland on the provision of sanitary assemblies and infection control advises against the procurement of swan-neck taps.

This guidance further advises that in existing facilities, when such fittings become damaged or in need of repair, they should be replaced by an appropriate alternative component as specified in the guidance.

Scottish Health Technical Memorandum 2040: The control of legionellae in healthcare systems provides further guidance to NHS boards on risk management procedures for those fittings which remain in use.

We are guided by advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) on vitamin supplements. The guidance currently states that people over 65 should take a supplement of 10 micrograms of vitamin D per day. SACN have recently concluded that further risk assessment and consideration of existing dietary reference values would only be warranted when definitive evidence becomes available. They have also stated that all newly emerging research on vitamin D will be monitored for evidence that may warrant a further risk assessment and review of vitamin D requirements. In the event of such a review recommending a change to supplement levels, the Scottish Government will make arrangements to inform general practitioners and other health professionals accordingly.

I have asked Willie Pretswell, Acting Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

No prison visiting areas have been equipped with Body Orifice Security Scanner chairs since 15 August 2008 and nor do we have any plans to use chairs in any of these areas.