Ward admission responsibility
Vale of Leven Inquiry · The Vale of Leven Hospital Inquiry Report · Issued 24 November 2014 · Addressed to: NHS Health Boards (Scotland)
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Health Boards should ensure that where there is risk of cross infection, the nurse in charge of a ward has ultimate responsibility for admission of patients to the ward or bay.
Vale of Leven Inquiry, The Vale of Leven Hospital Inquiry Report · 24 Nov 2014 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Scottish Government's response detailed the Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs), which include 'Patient Placement/Assessment for Infection Risk' as one of 10 core precautions. This establishes the principle that infection risk must be assessed before patient placement.
- The NIPCM provides detailed guidance on patient placement decisions during outbreaks, including the nurse in charge's role in managing admissions to affected wards or bays (National Infection Prevention and Control Manual for Scotland (https://www.nipcm.hps.scot.nhs.uk/about-the-manual/)).
- The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 reinforces the clinical authority of nurses by ensuring registered nurses have sufficient seniority and authority to make clinical decisions including admission and placement decisions during infection outbreaks (Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2019/6)).
Response — verbatim from government
●Scottish Government
Section 2.1 of the Scottish Government's response details the Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICP) which are basic infection prevention and control measures. One of the ten SICPs is "Patient placement in wards and bays," directly addressing the management of patients within wards to reduce cross-infection risk. This framework supports the nurse in charge's responsibility for patient admissions in such circumstances.
Scottish Government · 18 Jun 2015 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 1 Jan 2025 · Healthcare Improvement Scotland Excellence in Care framework and NIPCM address ward admission control during infection risk. HIS IPC Standards Standard 4 (Assurance and Monitoring) covers ward-level infection management including admission decisions. View source → Good Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.