What the existing ratio is of infection control practitioners per acute core bed in NHS hospitals and what the projected future ratio is fo…

All members of staff in the NHS bear some responsibility for infection control. However, Infection Control Teams within Trusts have particular responsibility for infection control. These teams are multi-disciplinary in nature and involve staff with professional backgrounds as diverse as catering and management.The majority of those in infection control teams are infection control nurses. Data on the numbers of infection control nurses is not collected separately by ISD Scotland, being included under general nursing.The medical specialty which concerns itself most with infection control is medical microbiology and virology, although it should be borne in mind that medical staff are quite a small part of the infection control team. The number of medical microbiology consultants per 1,000 acute beds in Scotland is 3.5 for beds available in the acute specialties. ("Acute" comprises the following specialty groups: acute surgical, acute medical, dental, GP other than obstetrics, radiology specialties, unspecified and excludes the following specialty groups: obstetrics, geriatric medicine, psychiatric and learning disabilities). The number for beds available to all specialties is 1.5 per 1,000.Because "infection control practitioner" is not a defined activity and infection control teams are diverse, it is not possible to state the ratio of infection control practitioners per acute core bed, or to project future ratios.