Purpose
This annual statement will be generated each year in June in accordance with the requirements of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. It details:
- any infection transmission incidents and any action taken (these will have been reported in accordance with our Significant Event procedure)
- details of any infection control audits undertaken and actions undertaken
- details of any risk assessments undertaken for prevention and control of infection
- details of staff training
- any review and update of policies, procedures, and guidelines
Infection prevention and control (IPC) lead
Custom House Surgery has 3 Leads for Infection Prevention and Control:
- the Nursing IPC lead for the practice is: Anisah Muhammad (Lead Nurse)
- non-clinical IPC lead for the practice is: Dahlia Gardner (Practice Manager)
Infection transmission incidents (Significant Events)
Significant events (which may involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events) are investigated in detail to see what can be learned and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements. All significant events are reviewed six-monthly with the Practice Manager and Lead Nurse with learning cascaded to all relevant staff.
Infection prevention Audit and actions
The Annual Infection Prevention and Control Audit was completed by Anisah Muhammad in Oct 21.
An Audit on hand washing was undertaken in March 202. Custom House Surgery plan to undertake the following audits in 2023/202:
- annual infection prevention and control audit
- domestic cleaning audit
- hand hygiene audit
- sharps
- cold chain
Risk assessments
Risk assessments are carried out so that best practices can be established and then followed. In the last year the following risk assessments were carried out/reviewed:
Legionella (Water) Risk Assessment: The practice has conducted/reviewed its water safety risk assessment to ensure that the water supply does not pose a risk to patients, visitors, or staff.
Immunisation: As a practice, we ensure all staff are up to date with their Hepatitis B immunisations and offered any occupational health vaccinations applicable to their role (i.e. MMR, Seasonal Flu, Covid-19). We take part in the National Immunisation campaigns for patients and offer vaccinations in-house and via home visits to our patient population.
Other examples:
Privacy Curtains: The NHS Cleaning Specifications state the curtains should be cleaned or if using disposable privacy curtains, replaced every 6 months. To this effect, we use disposable privacy curtains and ensure they are changed every 6 months. The window blinds cleaning regime is currently being reviewed. The privacy modesty curtains although handled by clinicians are never handled by patients and clinicians have been reminded to always remove gloves and clean hands after an examination and before touching the curtains. All curtains are regularly reviewed and changed if visibly soiled.
Cleaning specifications, frequencies, and cleanliness: We have a cleaning specification and frequency policy to which our cleaners and staff follow. An assessment of cleanliness is conducted by the cleaning team and logged. This includes all aspects of the surgery including the cleanliness of equipment.
Hand washing sinks: The practice has clinical hand washing sinks in every room for staff to use, which meet the latest standards.
Training
All staff receives annual online training in infection prevention and control.
Hand Hygiene training and Audit is carried out annually by our Lead Nurse.
Policies
All Infection Prevention and Control related policies are in date for this year.
Policies relating to Infection Prevention and Control are available to all staff and are reviewed and updated annually. All are amended on an ongoing basis as current advice, guidance, and legislation change. The Infection Control policy is uploaded onto the Practice Shared Drive once reviewed with a notification sent to staff.
Responsibility
It is the responsibility of each individual to be familiar with this Statement and their roles and responsibilities under this.
Review date
May 2021
Responsibility for Review
The Infection Prevention and Control Lead Nurse and the Practice Manager are responsible for reviewing and producing the Annual Statement.