Recommendation R20: Stool records for CDI patients
From The Vale of Leven Hospital Inquiry Report, published 24 November 2014.
Recommendation
Health Boards should ensure that where a patient has, or is suspected of having, C. difficile diarrhoea a proper record of the patient’s stools is kept. Health Boards should ensure that there is an appropriate form of charting of stools available to enable nursing staff to provide the date, time, size and nature of the stool. Stool charts should be continued after a patient has become asymptomatic of diarrhoea in order to reduce the risk of cross infection. Health Boards should ensure that all nursing staff are properly trained in the completion of these charts, and that the nurse in charge of the ward audits compliance.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry asked health boards to keep, chart, and audit patients' stool records. In June 2015, the Scottish Government stated that it accepted "in full all of the report's recommendations", but its response did not mention stool charting, monitoring asymptomatic patients, nursing staff training, or ward compliance audits (Scottish Government response, Jun 2015).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
About this summary
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The record reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.
Government response
The Scottish Government accepts its responsibility for the failings identified in the report and we apologise unreservedly for the suffering and loss caused. We accept in full all of the report's recommendations.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
The Scottish Government accepted all 75 recommendations together, in its response published on 18 June 2015. The response states the acceptance in the Cabinet Secretary's foreword, in section 1.3 and in section 5.1, and repeats it for the recommendations on infection prevention and control (Chapter 3) and on nursing care (section 4.1). It is organised by theme, not by recommendation: Appendix 1 lists the chapter sections that relate to each recommendation, and no passage answers any one recommendation alone. The response shown is the acceptance in section 1.3, which covers all 75.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from NHS Health Boards (Scotland) has been found in the sources searched (last checked 6 February 2026). This is separate from the response above.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Scottish Government
Response