FOI – 2026-3341 Water Related Infection Incidents (HTML)

Date received – 14 April 2026 | Date responded – 12 May 2026

Request

I’m writing to request the following through a freedom of information:

1. To ask how many water related infection incidents were reported by NHS Grampian’s Infection Prevention Control Team using the HIAT Green, Amber and Red reports to ARHAI Scotland through the electronic outbreak reporting tool (ORT) since 2017.
2. Please provide a breakdown of how many incidents in each of those years.
3. In relation to the above please provide:

• What caused the incident?
• What type of infection?
• How many patient infections were linked to the incident?
• How many staff infections were linked to the incident?
• Which location did the incident occur in?

Response

I refer to your Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) request that we received on 14 April 2026 requesting the following information:

1. To ask how many water related infection incidents were reported by NHS Grampian’s Infection Prevention Control Team using the HIAT Green, Amber and Red reports to ARHAI Scotland through the electronic outbreak reporting tool (ORT) since 2017.
2. Please provide a breakdown of how many incidents in each of those years.
3. In relation to the above please provide:

• What caused the incident?
• What type of infection?
• How many patient infections were linked to the incident?
• How many staff infections were linked to the incident?
• Which location did the incident occur in?

We have now completed the search of our records and can provide you with the following information:

Please note the electronic reporting tool was set up in October 2020. To provide uniformity in our response we have applied the definition: Any infection reported by NHS Grampian through the outbreak reporting tool which has a hypothesis relating to water exposure from 1st October 2020 to 14th April 2026.

Please find attached Appendix 1 – Infections reported by NHS Grampian.

Under Section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act, 2002 (FOISA), Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSD Scotland) has redacted details of infections that fall below five (≤ 5) to protect their identity in line with the Caldicott Principles.

PSD Scotland also note that Chapter 4 of the National Infection Prevention & Control Manual (water) National Infection Prevention and Control Manual: Chapter 4 - Infection Control in the Built Environment and Decontamination was published in July 2024, with an implementation date of January 2025. This should therefore be considered when interpreting the information provided. Chapter 4 includes a list of alert organisms linked to waterborne incidents in healthcare, which health boards are expected to investigate and report.

From 1 April 2026, NSS and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) joined to form PSD Scotland, enabling transformation in health, social care, and the wider public sector. More information regarding PSD Scotland can be found at the following URL:

Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSD Scotland)

I trust you will find the information of assistance and if you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of how we have dealt with your request, you can make representations to us asking us to review the handling of your request.

If you require any further information, please contact the Associate Director Governance and Board Services (Board Secretary) within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence.

Contact

Address

If after a review you are still unhappy, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at Kinburn Castle, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, or via their application form.

National Services Scotland (NSS) is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. You can view all FOI responses within our FOI Publications repository.