Chamber and committees

Currently there is no requirement by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for a company, or the person in control of any premises, to notify anybody of the results of any sampling that is undertaken.

Matters relating to the HSE are reserved to the UK Government.

The responsible body for matters relating to health and safety in the UK is the Health and Safety Executive and such matters are reserved to the UK Government. There is no requirement for a company to notify their responsible person to any organisation.

The effect of the Legionella outbreak has brought a significant increase in the number of people requiring investigation and treatment in both primary and secondary care. However, NHS Lothian has confirmed that the actual number of elective procedures cancelled as a result of the impact on critical care has been minimal and the board will continue to monitor the impact until the end of the outbreak has been confirmed.

During the course of the week commencing 4 June NHS Lothian cancelled eight elective procedures, all of which have already been rescheduled.

An Incident Management Team (IMT) was set up by NHS Lothian on 3 June when the fourth case of Legionnaires disease was confirmed. The IMT is led by NHS Lothian, and involves the Environmental Health Service of Edinburgh City Council, the Health and Safety Executive and Health Protection Scotland. Others are engaged as necessary in the work of the group, for instance the Met Office regarding weather patterns.

An Incident Management Team and Outbreak Control Team perform the same function - the terminology is interchangeable.

The City of Edinburgh Environmental Health team and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), working as part of the Incident Management Team (IMT), are actively investigating the source of the current outbreak.

The Scottish Government Resilience Committee has considered NHS resource issues at every meeting. NHS Lothian is reporting that it is coping with the current pressures. Should the position change then the Scottish Government would ensure the required resources were available.

Additional specialist public health resources have already been provided to NHS Lothian from other boards, on a mutual aid basis.

It is standard procedure in all public health incidents and outbreaks such as this for a report to be produced at the end of outbreak by the lead NHS Board Incident Management Team. This is set out in guidance published in October 2011 Management of Public Health Incidents: Guidance on the Roles and Responsibilities of NHS led Incident Management Teams. This report, including its lessons learned, will inform handling of future public health incidents.

NHS Lothian is receiving support and advice directly from Scottish Government officials and the Scottish Futures Trust to bring the current contractual issues to conclusion and allow the project to proceed.

A change in funding route for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC) project was announced as part of the Draft Budget for 2011-12 on 17 November 2010. Given the real terms reduction of 32% of Capital DEL (Departmental Expenditure Limit) over the CSR (Comprehensive Spending Review) period, ministers agreed to maintain capital investment via a pipeline of revenue financed investment of £2.5 billion, of which £750 million related to health projects, either as stand-alone Non Profit Distributing (NPD) projects or via the hub initiative.

The announcement made on 17 November 2010 brought together the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences (DCN). This reinstates the board’s preferred strategic option and allows the generation of a number of physical and operational synergies that otherwise would not have been possible. Until that decision was taken it was not clear how and when the DCN project could be delivered.

The £842 million Adult and Children's Hospitals commenced on site in late March 2011 and the full development is planned to be operational/in service by the end of June 2015.