National ICM role guidance
Vale of Leven Inquiry · The Vale of Leven Hospital Inquiry Report · Issued 24 November 2014 · Addressed to: Scottish Government
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Scottish Government should re-issue national guidance on the role of the ICM, stipulating that the ICM must be responsible for the management of the infection prevention and control service.
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 indicated that work was underway since 2014/15 to ensure ICMs have direct management responsibility for the IPC service. National guidance on the ICM role was to be re-issued to reflect this requirement.
- The HAI Standards and the HCAI Strategy 2023-2025 reinforce the ICM's management responsibilities, with Healthcare Improvement Scotland monitoring compliance (Scottish HCAI Strategy 2023-2025 (https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-healthcare-associated-infection-hcai-strategy-2023-2025/)).
Response — verbatim from government
●Scottish Government
Section 2.2 of the Scottish Government's response indicates that the government has been working with partners since 2014/15 to ensure the stipulation that infection control managers have direct lines of communication and accountability to the board is reinforced. The response then details the Infection Control Manager's (ICM) role, including overall responsibility for coordinating prevention and control of infection and delivering the board-approved infection prevention and control programme, thereby confirming their management responsibility for the service.
Scottish Government · 18 Jun 2015 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 1 Jan 2022 · Scottish Government / ARHAI Scotland Infection Prevention Workforce Strategic Plan 2022-2024 addresses ICM role nationally. HIS IPC Standards (2022) Standard 1 provides framework for ICM responsibilities. New IPC Specialist Career Framework being developed. View source → Good Progress
- 1 Mar 2015 · Scottish Government Scottish Government committed to re-issuing national guidance on the role of the Infection Control Manager, as part of broader IPC governance reforms following the Inquiry. View source → Reasonable 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.