§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how the national audit of deaths caused by healthcare associated infections announced by the Chief Medical Officer will operate in practice; [158516]
(2) if he will list the NHS organisations which did not have either a director of infection control or a head of their infection control team in place before the announcement by the Chief Medical Officer in December 2003 that all NHS trusts will in future have a director of infection control; [158539]
(3) how his Department will monitor the standards of infection control outlined by the Chief Medical Officer in December 2003; [158541]
(4) with reference to the Chief Medical Officer's infection control report in December 2003, what timetable is in place to reach appropriate provision of isolation facilities; and what definition he uses of overtime. [158543]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonIt is too early to comment on the national audit of deaths as we have only recently commissioned the Health Protection Agency to develop a proposal for this audit.
No National Health Service organisation had a director of infection prevention and control (DIPC) in place last year as this new responsibility and its associated duties were only announced in December. Information on the heads of infection control teams is not collected centrally but the DIPC's remit extends beyond the infection control team.
Strategic health authorities will monitor performance against the objectives of Winning Ways. In addition, the Commission for Health Improvement has announced the new performance indicators for 2003–04 and one of them is Winning Ways—processes and procedures. This will monitor the actions identified in Winning Ways that trusts must undertake in order to reduce healthcare associated infection.
As the creation of new isolation facilities is generally linked to local plans for rebuilding and refurbishment it is not feasible to set a national timetable. Over-time is not specifically defined but provides flexibility for chief executives to implement realistic, timed work programmes for isolation facilities.