Written question WQ90521

The Welsh Government with the support of NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Specialist Estates Services (NWSSP-SES) and Public Health Wales (PHW) continue to introduce measures to improve air quality across health and social care. Effective ventilation and filtration are key to achieving this and by doing so mitigate the risks of cross infections. Some key actions have included:

• The issue of a new Welsh Heath Technical Memorandum (WHTM) 03-01 – Specialised Ventilation for Healthcare Buildings Parts A & B which covers design, validation, and operational performance. These documents provide detailed ventilation recommendations for all healthcare buildings including primary and social care.

• Every Health Board and Trust in Wales has appointed Authorised Persons (APs) for ventilation. These are persons appointed to ensure installations, maintenance and monitoring is completed to a compliant standard.

• Ventilation Safety Groups (VSG) are also in place at all Health Boards and Trusts in Wales. These groups also have the responsibility of ensuring all ventilation systems are designed, installed, tested, and maintained in accordance with the guidance.

• NWSSP-SES provide the services of an Authorising Engineer – Ventilation (AE-V) who is appointed as an independent advisor by Health Boards and Trusts to undertake assessments of Authorised Persons, audit systems and their associated operational management. The Authorising Engineer is also a member of the Ventilation Safety Group.

• NWSSP -SES engineers undertake full validations on specialist ventilation systems when they are first installed. In addition, they complete critical ventilation plant verifications annually and external contractors are also commissioned to carry out this work which ensures all specialist ventilation systems are covered.

In relation to sterilisation, including air High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter purification, work is ongoing with NHS Improvement England NHSI/E and the rest of the UK NHS including representatives from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), to validate its effectiveness in the healthcare setting.

The social care sector in Wales have been provided with advisory publications through PHW and the Welsh Government with a focus on infection transmission and clearly referencing the importance of effective ventilation systems to mitigate these risks and improve air quality.

Social care settings, such as care homes are a person’s home and not a clinical environment. The terms ‘air filtration’ and ‘sterilisation’ in relation to air quality are only relevant for healthcare settings.

Under Section 44 (4) (a) of The Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017 providers of regulated services must ensure premises are ‘accessible, adequately lit, heated and ventilated’. The regulating body, Care Inspectorate Wales, carries out regular inspections of the services and the environment is one of the areas reported on.