Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally as data on cleaning staff employed by NHS are not captured separately in the workforce statistics. Data is available for the hotel services/domestic staffing group which encompasses staff employed to clean. The following table shows head count and whole time equivalent domestic staff in post at 30 September 2008 who are directly employed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Information at hospital level is not available centrally. Information is not available for staff who are employed by external contractors.

Domestic Staff¹ Employed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Post description	Head Count	Whole-Time Equivalent (WTE)
Domestic Assistant	1,472	848.8
Domestic Assistant Higher Level	605	382.5
Domestic Supervisor	145	117.7
Domestic Supervisor Higher Level	1	1.0
Total	2,223	1,349.9

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS) Data as at 30 September 2008.

Note: 1. Following assimilation to Agenda for Change pay bands, domestic staff are identified by the post-descriptors shown in the table above. Any domestic staff that have assimilated to other post descriptors will not be counted as they cannot be readily identified. The job profiles for domestic staff also include other tasks and due to this the above table includes domestic staff employed to do tasks other than cleaning.

NHS boards have been asked to ensure that records be maintained of how the additional resources announced for hospital cleaners is being used. The first return is due at the end of May 2009.

I am advised by NHS Grampian that of the 13 isolates sent to the National Reference Laboratory for typing, eight have been typed as 027; two are 001 cases, one is an 026 case and one other is an 023 case. NHS Grampian is awaiting the results of the one remaining sample.

NHS Grampian has advised that its antimicrobial prescribing policy was first adopted in 2004 and was last reviewed in March 2009. Adoption and implementation of the revised policy began in March 2009. Implementation is the responsibility of managers at all levels of the organisation. Implementation of NHS Grampian''s revised policy is the subject of on-going audit which is being undertaken in line with guidelines published by the Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group (SAPG).

National guidance requires the setting of local trigger thresholds for each clinical area. I am advised by NHS Grampian that an investigation is triggered when two or more cases occur in the same ward area and that this trigger was applied in the recent outbreak at Dr Gray''s Hospital.

Guidance for the production of single outcome agreements and annual reporting by Community Planning Partners has been produced jointly by the Scottish Government, COSLA, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, the Improvement Service and Audit Scotland. There is no obligation upon Community Planning Partners to set out how they, or individual partners (such as councils), are implementing statutory obligations such as those under the 2003 act, in single outcome agreements or related annual reports.

The Scottish Government has published additional guidance called With Inclusion in Mind. This sets out practical action that local authorities can take in respect of the new duties outlined in Sections 25 to 31 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. The Scottish Government continues to work with local authorities to support implementation. The new duties are also reflected in the Scottish Recovery Indicator which has been developed to assess the degree to which services address rights, social inclusion and recovery and which the Scottish Recovery Network is working with service providers, including local authorities, to implement.

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) is reviewing the performance of every NHS board in Scotland against their standards for clinical governance and risk management. NHS Grampian will be reviewed by NHS QIS on 9 July 2009. All NHS QIS reports are published and made available on their website.

 

A total of thirteen isolates were sent to the National Reference Laboratory for typing.

 

Eighteen patients have been affected by the Clostridium difficile outbreak in Dr Gray''s Hospital. In answer to (b), NHS Grampian released a statement on 13 May 2009 confirming that one patient had Clostridium difficile recorded on the death certificate as the primary cause of death. NHS Grampian then further confirmed to journalists that one other patient had died during the outbreak where Clostridium difficile was recorded as one of a number of other contributory factors in the cause of death.

NHS Grampian did not mention the death of this second patient in its initial statement because it took the view that, as the second patient did not die directly of Clostridium difficile, it was not appropriate to report this death in its statement.

I expect all NHS boards to supply full and accurate data to media enquiries.

 

Local authorities have a duty to meet the statutory requirements of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 but may do so in a variety of ways.

Eligibility criteria may refer to the allocation of some resources but would never exclude access to resources such as assessment, advice and guidance. Responses to Section 26 will often include these as well as support to access other main stream services.

 

Since publication of With Inclusion in Mind, the Scottish Government has provided additional funding to local authorities in 2007-08 and in 2008-09 to support them in developing responses to the guidance. A conference was held in the autumn of 2008 to share best practice and further encourage and support this work. The funding support and conference will be repeated in 2009-10.