ARHAI Scotland have developed a respiratory short form for reporting of any incident/outbreak from key respiratory viruses (COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) only), where IPC measures align with the newly developed outbreak checklist/NIPCM and where ARHAI support is not requested.

Reporting via the respiratory short form uses a minimum dataset which aims to reduce reporting burden for NHS boards whilst maintaining national surveillance of incidents and outbreaks across Scotland. The respiratory short form has now been successfully rolled out to all NHS boards and more information can be found within the Outbreak Reporting Tool Protocol.

The updated outbreak checklist is aligned to the NIPCM and is designed to support staff with the prevention and control of suspected or confirmed incidents and outbreaks in hospital settings. This outbreak checklist demonstrates application of controls as recorded in both the respiratory short form and full outbreak reporting tool.

Appendix 15: Healthcare Infection Incident and Outbreak Reporting Tool (HIIORT) has now also been removed from the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM). All boards have been provided with their local bespoke version of the outbreak reporting tool (ORT) for reporting of incidents and outbreaks in line with chapter 3 of the NIPCM.

Full information can be found in the Outbreak Reporting Tool Protocol or users may contact NSS.ARHAIinfectioncontrol@nhs.scot.