24/7 IPC cover
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 there is 24-hour cover for infection prevention and control seven days a week, and that contingency plans for leave and sickness absence are in place.
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 discussed general workforce planning, including the use of nursing and midwifery workload and workforce planning tools. However, the specific requirement for 24-hour IPC cover seven days a week with contingency plans for leave and sickness was addressed at a general level rather than with a specific commitment.
- The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 requires appropriate staffing levels at all times, which implicitly includes IPC staffing. However, 24/7 specialist IPC cover is a resource-intensive requirement that smaller boards may struggle to maintain consistently (Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2019/6)).
- The HAI Standards require NHS boards to have arrangements for IPC advice and support, but the extent to which 24/7 specialist IPC cover is consistently provided across all 14 NHS boards is not centrally reported.
Response — verbatim from government
●Scottish Government
Section 4.1 of the Scottish Government's response discusses general workforce planning, including the use of nursing and midwifery workload and workforce planning tools to determine the number of nurses or midwives needed. However, the provided text does not contain specific passages addressing the provision of 24-hour, seven-day-a-week cover for infection prevention and control staff, nor does it detail contingency plans for their leave and sickness absence.
Scottish Government · 18 Jun 2015 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 1 May 2022 · Healthcare Improvement Scotland HIS IPC Standards (2022) address requirements for 24/7 IPC cover. Infection Prevention Workforce Strategic Plan 2022-2024 addresses workforce planning for IPC services including contingency arrangements. 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.
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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.