Infection Control

Preventing Infection

We take the prevention and control of infection very seriously. Over the past few years the Trust has piloted and adopted a range of proactive measures to prevent healthcare-associated infection. These measures include:

• Adopting the National Patient Safety Agency, 'Clean your Hands' Campaign to improve hand hygiene practice.
• Installation of wall mounted alcohol hand gels dispensers on all wards across the Trust for use by staff, patients and visitors. In addition, we have installed alcohol gel at each inpatient bedside.
• Providing training in infection control and hand hygiene at induction for all new staff, and provide annual refresher training on infection control and hand hygiene.
• Introduction of a Visitors Code, to ensure there is adequate time for wards to be cleaned thoroughly, and to help us with infection control.
• All wards and departments have Infection Control Link Workers in place to pass on information to all clinical areas.
• We give all our Medical and Surgical inpatients a supply of antiseptic body wash to help to prevent cross infection.
• We work with our domestic/cleaning services and wards to aim for the highest standards of cleanliness.

What can patients and visitors to the Trust do to help?

Patients

• Ensure that hospital staff are aware of any infections you may already have, particularly if you are being treated with antibiotics currently or very recently.
• Complete any course of antibiotics you may be given.
• Be aware of your own need to wash hands and don’t be afraid to challenge staff that you think may not have washed their hands.
• Advise your friends and relatives that if they are ill, and particularly if they have diarrhoea, vomiting or flu not to visit the ward.
• Try and limit the numbers of visitors at any given time and closely follow ward advice with regard to food, flowers and laundry.
• Follow advice given with regard to wound dressings and handling of medical devices such as urinary catheters and intravenous infusions.
• Before a planned admission wash your hair and take a bath or shower before coming in. Remove any nail polish and put on freshly washed underwear.

Visitors

• When you arrive on the ward make a note of any areas that are messy or dirty and point them out to staff.
• Visitors can also contribute to reducing the spread of infection by following our “10 Top Tips”. Visitors and relatives that need to take patient clothing home to be laundered can also help to reduce the risk of infection by following our advice on Home Laundering of Patient Clothing.