Our role in national surveillance
Our organisation is the national surveillance centre for communicable diseases and health problems associated with environmental hazards. At the heart of our operations is the collection of accurate and timely data and it underpins all our activities in protecting the nation's health.
Surveillance information is provided to us through an extensive surveillance network which includes:
- laboratories
- hospitals
- general practitioners
- NHS boards
- local authorities
We also contribute surveillance information at a UK and international level through close collaboration with these specialist agencies.
Electronic Communication of Surveillance in Scotland (ECOSS)
We've developed the ECOSS system to capture lab results from diagnostic and reference laboratories for analysis by our surveillance teams. Results used for surveillance purposes are selected using a set of rules that are organism and, in some cases, specimen specific. It's a national tool for monitoring organisms, infections and microbial intoxications that are of clinical or public health importance.