Training for IPC professionals engineers and clinicians
I would recommend that IPC professionals should receive some basic training on the recommendations made by the NHS's own guidance for engineering systems, insofar as they are made in the interests of patient safety and care, before they are recruited to work on large scale hospital projects.
Similarly, engineers would benefit from basic training on infection control principles and clinical requirements before embarking on new build hospital projects.
Clinicians involved in projects would also benefit from basic training in the recommended output parameters of building engineering systems which have a direct bearing on the safety and care of patients in their departments.
- On 17 September 2025, the Scottish Government stated that NHS Scotland Assure was developing a framework of training and lessons learned for IPC professionals working on large-scale hospital projects (Scottish Parliament Question S6W-40544, 17 September 2025).
- No published training framework for IPC professionals on engineering systems guidance has been identified to March 2026.
How was this evidence gathered?
Response
Accepted
Response
AcceptedAll 11 recommendations accepted by Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray MSP on 13 March 2025. Progress update 17 September 2025: NHS Scotland Assure is developing a framework of training and lessons learned that will be accessible to all Health Boards via a shared intranet site as part of its 2023-26 strategy.
Progress Timeline
NHS Scotland Assure is developing a framework of training and lessons learned that will be accessible to all Health Boards via a shared intranet site as part of its 2023-26 strategy.
Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray MSP accepted all 11 recommendations in a parliamentary statement on 13 March 2025.