Health and social care - infection prevention and control strategy: vision and priority statements

Realising the vision

4.1 Multi-year action plans

The next phase of ‘An Infection Prevention and Control Strategy for Scotland’ will be the development of the first multi-year action plan – covering a three-year implementation period – to support the realisation of the vision and priority statements. The intention is that delivery of the next phase of the strategy will be led by distinct, dedicated integrated action-planning groups, made up of key stakeholders from across health and social care. Each group will be responsible for progressing an action plan aligned to a set of priority statements, thematically divided. These groups will be accountable to one oversight body formed of senior management-level stakeholders, ensuring robust governance and alignment.

4.2 Theory of Change

The Theory of Change (ToC) provides a clear overview of how the priority statements are expected to link to activities, outputs and outcomes across health and social care, and highlights the conditions under which meaningful and sustained change is expected to occur.

The ToC will be used to inform and shape the development of multi-year action plans, helping to ensure that proposed actions are clearly linked to the Strategy’s priorities and to the outcomes the Strategy seeks to achieve. It provides a structured way to test whether planned activity is coherent, proportionate and aligned with the overall intent of the Strategy.

It is intended to provide a foundation for future monitoring and evaluation activity, including helping to identify appropriate measures, key evaluation questions and evidence gaps over time.

The ToC should be understood as a living framework, which will be reviewed and refined as implementation progresses, as further evidence emerges, and as the wider context evolves.^[30]

4.3 Monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation will be carefully considered as implementation progresses. This will include identifying appropriate measures to track delivery and outcomes, drawing on existing data where possible, and building in opportunities for learning and reflection. An evaluation report will also be produced upon the completion of each three-year action plan.

4.4 Impact assessments

As part of evidence-based policymaking in the development of the IPC Strategy and in anticipation of the publication of the first multi-year action plan, the Scottish Government have already undertaken initial impact assessments and evidence retrieval for the following:

• Review of the articles documented in the Human Rights Act 1998
• Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment
• Equality Impact Assessments (EQIA)

These impact assessments will be published shortly after the vision and priorities statement. Whilst the Fairer Scotland Duty and Island Communities Impact Assessments etc will be published in full alongside the first action plan.

Whilst undertaking impact assessments to assess Scottish Government policies and their impacts is a legal duty, it is also key to understanding how our policies affect real people’s lives. By considering the diverse experiences of people in our population we can create more inclusive and effective policies that benefit all of Scotland’s communities.

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