Infection Control Statement

HOMEWELL PRACTICE

ANNUAL STATEMENT INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL 
                                                NOVEMBER 2023 

Purpose 

This annual statement will be generated each year in October in accordance with the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the Prevention of infections and related documents and related guidance, it Summarises: 

• Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken (these will be reported in accordance with our significant Event Procedure). 
• Details of any Infection Control audits undertaken and actions undertaken. 
• Details of risk assessments. 
• Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines. 
• Details of staff Infection control training. 

Infection control lead - Sarah Konig 

With support from Wendi Vince HCA 
                                  Sarah Harrison Nurse Partner 
                                  Helen Wiseman Lead Nurse 

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 learnt and to indicate changes that 
might lead to future improvements.  

Having recently taken on the role of Infection control lead for the surgery and having previously had this role at my last surgery. I have gone back to basics to review of the infection control situation at The Homewell Practice. 
On review of the cleanliness of the Clinical rooms, I raised concerns about the cleaning standard of these rooms, which were undertaken by a cleaning company. 

          As a result of this at Homewell: 

-  We have changed the surgery cleaning team to improve the   
      cleanliness of the clinical rooms. This will int turn reduce           
      the risk of transmission of infection to patients and staff. 

- It also provides a reassuring environment for patients that attend the surgery. 
- Also, to make clinical rooms staff have been provided with Keyboard covers and encouraged to use these. They are easy to wipe and keep clean. 

- The chairs in the clinical rooms have been changed to a wipeable material again easier to keep clean.   

- Daily cleaning sheets are now being completed in the Nurse treatment room. A record is being kept of these. 

This will be reviewed and audited on a Bi monthly basis to ensure standards are maintained, The results of this will be feed back to the Practice management and cleaning team 

INFECTION PREVENTION AUDIT AND ACTIONS:  

Sarah Konig IPC lead: 
          Has attended via Teams a regional IPC lead networking event in October 2023: 
 This covered topics such as. 
    -Antibiotic use in Primary care. 
      Diagnosis and management of clostridium difficelle the community. 
     Clinical audits. 
     Staff Immunisation status. 
Annual statements for IPC in General Practices She has protected time once a month to undertake audits and keep to date policies and plan how to implement change for service improvement within Infection prevention and control. 
-Has been undertaking a review of the surgeries Infection and prevention Polices and re writing the overall IPC standards policy in line with The new national Infection prevention and control manual and the national standards of Healthcare cleanliness. 
The contents of these will need to be disseminated to all clinical staff so they are up to date with the latest guidance 
-A hand hygiene Audit is in progress at the moment.  
The surgery plans to undertake further audits over the next 6  to 12 months Including- 
-: Increase staff awareness of Infection control including their role in adhering and implementing the guidance in conjunction with CQC IPC standards for general practice. 
-: Find an effective way to disseminate Important IPC in formation to all staff 
-: Safe management of the care environment audit 
-: Safe management of the care equipment audit 
-: Audit cold chain and implement change based on the results 
:-Review Infection and prevention standards at the surgery in line with the New National standards of healthcare cleanliness 
Policies 
The Practice infection control policies are currently being updated in line with CQC recommendations, the implementation of the new national standards of health care cleanliness and the national infection control manual. 
All Infection control policies are available to staff and reviewed and updated annually as current 
advice, guidance and legislation changes. 
Responsibility 
It is the responsibility of each individual to be familiar with this Statement and their roles and responsibilities under this. 
Review date November 2024