Weekly News
Released on 08/06/2009
Events Diary
16 & 17 June
Scottish Government Health Directorates
NHS Scotland Event 2009: Working Together For A Healthier Scotland
SECC, Glasgow
See www.nhsscotlandevent.com for programme and booking.
3 September
IHM Scotland
Resolving Conflict
9.30-4.30, Airth Castle Hotel
1 day workshop with Joyce Brown. See attached flyer for details and booking.
8, 15 & 16 September
IHM Scotland
Employment Law
Castle Douglas, Perth, Inverness
Afternoon seminar with employment law expert, Roy Drummond. See flyer for details.
6 & 7 October
IHM Scotland
Annual Conference: Preparing for the Future
Airth Castle Hotel
Keynote speaker: Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing. Delegate registration now open at http://www.hfevents.co.uk/ihm2009; conference programme attached with the Update. Book now to secure your place.
This week in Parliament
Wednesday
10:00 Health and Sport Committee
The Committee will continue to take evidence at Stage 1 of the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill.
Thursday
11:40 General Questions
12:00 First Minister’s Questions
Revised hospital cleaning standards launched
Paul Kingsmore, Director of Health Facilities Scotland launched Scotland's Revised National Cleaning Specification at the annual Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals conference in Glasgow last Friday.
The new measures will be used to scrutinise standards when HFS carries out its quarterly audits. Key points in the revised standards include:
· Guidance on the use of steam cleaners
· Further awareness of the importance of hand hygiene and health and safety
· A colour coding system to ensure specific clothes etc are used for specific areas
Commenting, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said:
"Tackling hospital infections is my top priority.
There is no single solution to this complex problem, but good cleaning has a key part to play and must continue to be a high priority for all NHS Boards.
"Standards of hospital cleaning have vastly improved in recent years, but patients and the public have to be confident in the quality of hospital cleanliness and the standard of care they receive.
"We must also strive for continuous improvement which is why we set rigorous and demanding targets for NHS Boards. The revised cleaning specification is part of this process."
NHS Boards were recently provided with 250 steam cleaning machines and over £5 million for extra cleaners.
Healthcare assistant study wins primary care award
The winner of the 2009 IHM Scotland Bob Scott Brown award for innovation in good practice in primary care is Jane Connechen (pictured below, receiving her award from IHM Scotland chair, Malcolm Wright, at the Networking and Learning practice managers’ conference) for a study which led to national advances in clinical governance, accountability and training for healthcare assistants working in general practice.
Jane, who is the practice manager at Dr D. Taylor and partners of Dumfries, wanted to identify how the role of healthcare assistants (HCAs) within general practice could be optimised without compromising patient safety. She presented a paper to the national GMS organisation development working group, which led to a national working group being established to identify the key issues concerning the employment of HCAs in general practice and to draw up guidance to help practices ensure that standards of care are not compromised and boundaries of responsibility and accountability are clear.
In addition to the issues identified by the working group, Jane and her practice nurse adviser colleague in Dumfries and Galloway commissioned Scotland’s first foundation course for HCAs in general practice from the University of Paisley.
As a result of Jane’s work, there are now clear guidelines to allow general practices to get the most from the HCA role, as well as an education and training structure to enable HCAs themselves to develop professionally. Further details can be found in Jane’s submission for the award, attached with the Update.
Healthcare
Support Workers research published
The Scottish Government has published the results of a national pilot to test out arrangements for employer-led regulation of healthcare support workers (HCSWs.)
Currently there is no statutory provision for the regulation of HCSWs in Scotland or anywhere else in the UK. Consultation in Scotland indicated strong support for regulation and the development of standards. It was agreed that Scotland would test the model on behalf of the UK with strong support from the four countries. The model consisted of a set of national minimum standards with the addition of a list of HCSWs who met the standards, which comprised three elements:
· A set of induction standards for healthcare support workers
· A Code of Conduct for healthcare support workers
· A Code of Practice for NHSScotland Employers.
The evaluation of the pilot in NHS Ayrshire & Arran, Lothian and Lanarkshire and supporting research findings can be read at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/01144730/0 and www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/01144651/0 respectively.
IHM Conference newsletter
An IHM information update, compiled for the Institute’s UK annual conference last month, is attached with this week’s Update. It contains news about developments including the IHM Fellowship scheme, accreditation for health and social care managers and a refresh of the managerial Code of Conduct.
