{"id":592,"date":"2026-01-14T10:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T10:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/health-protection-team\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T10:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T10:42:16","slug":"health-protection","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/health-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"East Region Health Protection Service (ERHPS) &#8211; Formerly Health Protection Team (HPT)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-accent-grey-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"outbreak-definitions-and-agreed-PCR-testing\">Outbreak period definitions and PCR agreed testing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:400\">A risk assessment approach is taken by the East region Health Protection Service to decipher when an outbreak is over. Inclusive of all respiratory outbreaks, the following requirements must be met:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>All residents have completed a minimum of 5 days isolation <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>All positive and symptomatic residents are at least 48 hours apyrexial and asymptomatic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There has been no further linked cases within the last 48 hours<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The HPT will contact a Care Home in outbreak to assess the end of an outbreak when it is considered appropriote and discuss the situation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>ERHPS will ask for the end of outbreak risk assessment to be completed and returned. ERHPS will then use this information to undertake a risk assessment and advise if the outbreak can be deemed over. Please see the table of documents below.<br><br>There is a PCR testing pathway in place for which the Heath Protection Team delivered a presentation and there is further information on testing below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please note, if you need more stock of PCR kits <a href=\"mailto:eos.eastregionhpt@nhs.scot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">email ERHPS<\/a> and we will arrange a pack of 5 to be sent out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-nhsl-document-list\" data-folderid=\"27\" data-title=\"NEW OUTBREAK RELATED DOCUMENTS\" data-sort=\"1\">Loading &#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-accent-green-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"outbreak-weekend\">Outbreaks at the Weekend<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:400\">If you have a outbreak over the weekend in your Care Home please use the guidance to put the control measures in place and call ERHPS on the Monday to report a potential outbreak.&nbsp; <br><br>You can also send the outbreak report form at the weekend which will be picked up on the Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We do have an Emergency on call service but a suspected outbreak is not an emergency.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-light-accent-grey-background-color has-background\">For more information and resources on on respiratory, gastrointestinal and scabies outbreaks please view the <a href=\"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/outbreaks-prevention-testing-and-management-of-common-illnesses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Outbreaks: Prevention, testing and management of common illnesses and infections<\/a> webpage<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-accent-green-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-contact-us\">East Region Health Protection Service<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:400\">The Lothian Health Protection Team merged with 3 other health protection teams (NHS Borders, NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley and NHS Lothian) to become the &#8216;East Region Health Protection Service&#8217; on the 12th of December 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-contact-us\">How to Contact Us<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:400\">Office hours: Monday &#8211; Friday 09.00 &#8211; 18.00<br>Call: 0300 790 6264<br>Email:&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:eos.eastregionhpt@nhs.scot\">eos.eastregionhpt@nhs.scot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-accent-plum-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Weekends and Weeknights <br>(1800 &#8211; 0900)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-regular-font-size\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:400\"><strong>This is an emergency\/on call service only &#8211; this is not for reporting potential\/suspected outbreaks.<\/strong><br>Please see <a href=\"#outbreak-weekend\">Outbreaks at the Weekend<\/a> for more guidance re this<br><br>Phone number: 01592 643355<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-regular-font-size\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:400\">Updated January 2026 AD, LW, AP &amp; HS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Outbreak period definitions and PCR agreed testing A risk assessment approach is taken by the East region Health Protection Service to decipher when an outbreak is over. Inclusive of all respiratory outbreaks, the following requirements must be met: ERHPS will ask for the end of outbreak risk assessment to be completed and returned. ERHPS will<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/mainmenuvertical.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-592","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/author\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":false,"rttpg_excerpt":"Outbreak period definitions and PCR agreed testing A risk assessment approach is taken by the East region Health Protection Service to decipher when an outbreak is over. Inclusive of all respiratory outbreaks, the following requirements must be met: ERHPS will ask for the end of outbreak risk assessment to be completed and returned. ERHPS will","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13678,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/592\/revisions\/13678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/carehomes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}