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Found 641 results
  1. Content Article
    Antimicrobial agents, such as antibiotics, are essential to treat some human and animal infectious diseases. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microorganisms change so that they are no longer affected by antimicrobial drugs used to treat them. There are different types of antimicrobials, which work against different types of microorganisms, such as antibacterials or antibiotics against bacteria, antivirals against viruses, and antifungals against fungi. Antimicrobials are often used incorrectly. The development of resistance is accelerated by the inappropriate use of these drugs, for example, using antibiotics (which help to treat bacteria) for viral infections like flu, or as a growth promoter in agriculture. Because of growing resistance, the world is running out of effective antibiotics to treat infectious diseases. Unless appropriate action is taken, decades of progress in health and medicine risk being undone. In May 2015, the World Health Assembly (WHA) endorsed a global action plan on AMR and urged all WHO Member States to develop national action plans (NAPs). The Seventy-third session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe launched the new European roadmap on AMR (2023–2030) to help accelerate the implementation of national strategies on AMR. The new brief from WHO Regional Office for Europe highlights the important connections between AMR infection prevention and control.
  2. News Article
    The Royal College of Nursing has warned of an increase risk of Covid among hospital staff and patients due to the NHS’s failure to follow World Health Organization advice about infection control during a current spike in cases. The most recent figures showed one in 24 people in England and Scotland had Covid on 13 December, up from one in 55 two weeks before. Last week WHO expressed concern about a new subvariant of Omicron, labelled JN.1, after its rapid spread in the Americas, western Pacific and European regions. To tackle the increase, the WHO advised that all health facilities “implement universal masking” and give health workers “respirators and other PPE”. Now the RCN has written to the four chief nursing officers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland asking why this guidance has not been introduced across the NHS. The letter, seen by the Guardian, points out that existing guidance in the national infection prevention and control manual (NIPCM) does not mandate hospital staff to use masks. It also leaves decisions about respirators to local risk assessors. The RCN says this guidance to UK hospitals is “inconsistent” with WHO advice. The letter by Patricia Marquis, the RCN’s director for England, calls for urgent revision to the NIPCM guidance to ensure the “universal implementation” of masks and respirators for health workers. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 December 2023
  3. News Article
    The under delivery of intravenous antibiotics in some NHS hospitals due to lack of polices and compliance may be contributing to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), according to a parliamentary report. Findings in the report indicated that many health service organisations do not have policies in place to reduce the risk of under delivery and those that do can struggle to comply fully with them. The report’s authors warned that the residual volume of antibiotic remaining in the line of the IV administration set can result in under delivery of up to 30% of the prescribed dose. They said that, as a result, this could be leading to possible resistance within patients, owing to the accumulative effect. Nurses involved with compiling the document have called for action. Based on the findings, the report recommended that all NHS organisations implement line flushing policies by late 2024, with support from the Department for Health and Social Care. Read full story (paywalled) Source: Nursing Times, 9 December 2023 Further reading on the hub: Short-term intermittent IV antibiotics – Understanding the issue of under delivery Understanding the importance of accurate antibiotic administration through an IV administration set (drip): A patient’s guide Top picks: 10 key resources on antimicrobial resistance
  4. Content Article
    The Covid-19 pandemic increased the sense of urgency to advance understanding and prevention of infectious respiratory disease transmission. There are extensive studies that demonstrate scientific understanding about the behaviour of larger (droplets) and smaller (aerosols) particles in disease transmission as well as the presence of particles in the respiratory track. Methods for respiratory protection against particles, such as N95 respirators, are available and known to be effective with tested standards for harm reduction. However, even though multiple studies also confirm their protective effect when N95 respirators are adopted in healthcare and public settings for infection prevention, overall, studies of protocols of their adoption over the last several decades have not provided a clear understanding. This preprint article demonstrates limitations in the methodology used to analyse the results of these studies. The authors show that existing results, when outcome measures are properly analysed, consistently point to the benefit of precautionary measures such as N95 respirators over medical masks, and masking over its absence.
  5. Content Article
    This World Health Organization (WHO) resource is for all health workers, as well as other professionals working in the field of infection prevention and control (IPC). It will help you carry out a situational analysis, track progress and understand how to make improvements to IPC at the national and facility levels, in accordance with validated WHO standards and implementation materials. All the WHO tools and resources are freely available for use by all.
  6. Content Article
    This report summarises the findings arising from a comprehensive study of antibiotic ‘line flushing’ and disposal practices in NHS organisations across Great Britain. It argues that is a need for concerted, UK-wide action on antibiotic line flushing policies.
  7. Content Article
    e-Bug, operated by the UK Health Security Agency, is a health education programme that aims to promote positive behaviour change among children and young people to support infection prevention and control efforts, and to respond to the global threat of antimicrobial resistance. e-Bug provides free resources for educators, community leaders, parents, and caregivers to educate children and young people and ensure they are able to play their role in preventing infection outbreaks and using antimicrobials appropriately.
  8. Content Article
    As clinicians, our primary objective is to provide the best possible care to our patients. In this pursuit, the administration of short-term intermittent IV antibiotics plays a crucial role in combating infections and saving lives; however, there is an under recognised issue, under delivery, that results in the misuse of antibiotics and could be exacerbating antimicrobial resistance. In this blog, Claire Davies, Clinical Therapy Manager at B. Braun Medical Ltd., explores the issue of under delivery and provides essential insights for clinicians to optimise their antibiotic therapy.
  9. Content Article
    As a patient receiving treatment for a bacterial infection through an IV administration set, commonly referred to as a drip, it’s essential to know that antibiotics play a crucial role in helping you get better. In this blog, Claire Davies, Clinical Therapy Manager at B. Braun Medical Ltd., explores an under-recognised issue that can affect your treatment, the unintentional under delivery of antibiotics via your drip. Claire explains why it’s important to ensure that all of your prescribed antibiotic dose is delivered via your drip and the measures being taken by healthcare providers to ensure that this happens.
  10. Content Article
    During the pandemic, approximately 4.1 million people across the UK were identified as clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) to Covid-19, and asked to shield for their own protection. This decision, made in the light of an unprecedented pandemic, would separate those with autoimmune inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, from the rest of society for their own protection. This report by the charity Versus Arthritis presents qualitative research led by Dr Charlotte Sharp, a consultant rheumatologist, Lynn Laidlaw who has an autoimmune rheumatic disease and had to shield, and patient contributor Joyce Fox from the Centre for Epidemiology at the University of Manchester. It highlights the stories of people who lived through shielding and details the impact on their daily lives, their physical and mental wellbeing, their work, and their relationships with their families and the rest of society.
  11. Content Article
    In this video, the Long Covid Groups' KC Anthony Metzer questions Professor Kamlesh Khunti to find out if he agrees that Long Covid should be cited as a reason not to allow Covid-19 to spread unchecked via non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). Professor Khunti is a member of SAGE and former Chair of the National Long Covid Research Working Group.
  12. Content Article
    This bulletin from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) describes two new in-hospital infections indicators for Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). It includes a table listing CIHI’s selected patient safety performance indicators and definitions.
  13. Content Article
    The only masking that’s going on is that of the government’s continued failure to get to grips with the virus, writes George Monbiot in this Guardian opinion piece. For some people, going to hospital may now be more dangerous than staying at home untreated. Many clinically vulnerable people fear, sometimes with good reason, that a visit to hospital or the doctors’ surgery could be the end of them. Of course, there have always been dangers where sick people gather. But, until now, health services have sought to minimise them. Astonishingly, this is often no longer the case. Across the UK, over the past two years, the NHS has been standing down even the most basic precautions against Covid-19. For example, staff in many surgeries and hospitals are no longer required to wear face masks in most clinical settings. Reassuring posters have appeared even in cancer wards, where patients might be severely immunocompromised. A notice, photographed and posted on social media last week, tells people that while they are “no longer required to wear a mask in this area”, they should use hand sanitiser “to protect our vulnerable patients, visitors and our staff”. Sanitising is good practice. But Covid-19 is an airborne virus, which spreads further and faster by exhalation than by touch.
  14. News Article
    The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is reviving a programme to mail free rapid coronavirus tests to Americans. Starting 25 September, people can request four free tests per household through covidtests.gov. Officials say the tests are able to detect the latest variants and are intended to be used through the end of the year. The return of the free testing program comes after Americans navigated the latest uptick in covid cases with free testing no longer widely available. The largest insurance companies stopped reimbursing the costs of retail at-home testing once the requirement to do so ended with the public health emergency in May. The Biden administration stopped mailing free tests in June. The Department of Health and Human Services also announced Wednesday that it was awarding $600 million to a dozen coronavirus test manufacturers. Agency officials said the funding would improve domestic manufacturing capacity and provide the federal government with 200 million over-the-counter tests to use in the future. “These critical investments will strengthen our nation’s production levels of domestic at-home COVID-19 rapid tests and help mitigate the spread of the virus,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. Experts say free coronavirus testing proved to be an effective public health tool, allowing people to check their status before attending large gatherings or spending time with older or medically vulnerable people at risk of severe disease even after being vaccinated. It also enables people to start antiviral treatments in the early days of infection to prevent severe disease. Read full story (paywalled) Source: Washington Post, 20 September 2023
  15. Content Article
    In April 2023, National Voices held a workshop with members, supported by The Disrupt Foundation, on the unequal impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It explored how communities and groups were affected differently by both the virus itself and the measures brought in to control it.   It painted a grim picture of the ways in which the pandemic response exacerbated existing, deep-rooted inequalities across the UK and compounded the disadvantages experienced by people from minoritised communities, by disabled people and by people living with long term conditions.  Just some examples include people who are immunocompromised, who were asked to go into isolation for huge periods of time and still feel completely overlooked as control measures have been lifted. Or the use of DNRs (Do Not Resuscitate orders) which were disproportionately applied to people with learning disabilities.  With the Covid-19 Inquiry underway, it is imperative that we capture the lessons learnt from the pandemic, and use them to suggest action for the future.
  16. Content Article
    England is well on the way towards its goal of eliminating hepatitis C; with over 84,000 patients treated and cleared, there are now more people that have been treated than are left to treat. However, there are still up to an estimated 70,000 people left to find—and what has worked to find patients so far, might not work so well for those that remain to be found. This is where former patients, also known as peers, come in. In this blog, Hepatitis C Trust CEO Rachel Halford and Mark Gillyon-Powell, Head of programme for hepatitis C at NHS England, look at how patient engagement has been essential to efforts to eliminate Hepatitis C in England.
  17. Content Article
    A series of podcasts from Molnlycke UK, with host Steve Feast, discussing topics such as sustainability, patient safety and more.
  18. Content Article
    This recent study published by the Journal of Hospital Infection, evaluated using patients as hand hygiene observers in an outpatient setting. It demonstrated that the implementation of a hand hygiene compliance improvement programme using the patient as the observer can be adopted successfully in the ambulatory setting.
  19. News Article
    Covid cases in England have almost doubled in a month after the rise of two new variants. According to the most recent government statistics available, 875 cases were logged in England on August 11, compared to just 449 a month earlier. Hospital admissions have also risen by a fifth in a week. UKHSA statistics show Covid cases in England rose from a seven-day rolling average of 373 on July 8 to 879 as of August 8. Also, 589 out of 6,500 neighbourhoods in England had detected at least three Covid cases in the week to August 12. The uptick comes after reports of a new variant called Eris which makes up one in four new cases. Also, another strain nicknamed Pirola is quickly spreading globally. The US is also seeing an increase in hospital admissions with coronavirus, its first significant uptick since December 2022. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said they are unsettled by the variant and suggested the rapid spread could suggest an international transmission. Christina Pagel, a member of the Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies that advises on the virus, said: "Without ramping up surveillance, and in the face of waning immunity, we are travelling into winter more vulnerable and with blinkers on." Prof Pagel predicted the new wave could cause extreme pressure on the health service, with a repeat of last winter’s “unprecedented” NHS crisis of Covid, flu and respiratory virus that came all around the same time. Read full story Source: Independent, 24 August 2023
  20. Content Article
    This study in Intensive and Critical Care Nursing examined the association between safety attitudes, quality of care, missed care, nurse staffing levels and the rate of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) in adult intensive care units (ICUs). The authors concluded that positive safety culture and better nurse staffing levels can lower the rates of HAIs in ICUs. Improvements to nurse staffing will reduce nursing workloads, which may reduce missed care, increase job satisfaction, and, ultimately, reduce HAIs.
  21. Content Article
    My last blog, "Forgotten heroes" – the sequel, built upon a very moving BBC Panorama programme Forgotten heroes of the Covid front line. The BBC documentary told the sad story of healthcare workers (HCWs) who had bravely and knowingly put themselves in harm's way to care for their patients during the darkest days of the pandemic. Many lost their lives, while many more were rendered so severely injured by the disease (Long Covid) that they were (and remain) unable to work and have been unceremoniously sacked by their NHS Health Trusts/Boards. The way that an organisation manages its activities is known as 'governance'. Good governance will lead to high standards of ethics, morality, care and compassion for the people who work within it and those who may be affected by its acts and omissions. Hence, when applied to a whole country, it is known as 'Government', its departments and agencies. In this blog, I propose a possible hypothetical scenario that may have led to the tragic situation revealed by the BBC documentary. I hope this will lead you to consider the standards of 'governance' that apply to the 'duty of care' which a Government owes to its HCWs during a pandemic and what, morally and ethically, should be done to support those "forgotten heroes" if the Government’s governance should be found to be severely lacking. But is the scenario I am asking you to imagine hypothetical or is it real? I shall leave that to your judgement – and that of the Covid-19 Public Inquiry. 
  22. Event
    This year's conference is all about IPC Legends focusing on individuals who in their respective fields are experts willing to share their knowledge with us, and exploring new ideas in the field of IPS. Alyson Prince – Built Environment Infection Prevention & Control Nurse Specialist/Engineering, Archus Healthcare Infrastructure Specialist who will be covering Ventilation in the Healthcare Setting – What is the air and why is it important. Dave Cunningham – Leadership & Workforce Workstream Lead, NHS Improvement who will be providing an update on the National Infection Prevention IPC Educational framework. Leo Andrew Almerol – Vascular Clinical Nurse Specialist, Imperial College NHS Trust / Vascular Access Nurse 2022, British Journal of Nursing will be providing an update on The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Vascular Access Service in the UK. Dr Emily McWhirter – Nurse Consultant, World Health Organization will be sharing with us Leadership and expertise in influencing IPC practice. Professor Elaine Cloutman-Green – Consultant Clinical Scientist (Infection Control Doctor), Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust is speaking around Challenges in IPC: Aiming for progress not perfection. Dr Mat Moyo – Quality Improvement Mentor / Founder, Quantum Quality Improvement Coaching / Lecturer, Solent University will be speaking to us about Quality Improvement Project Coaching in IPC: Wise People Ask for Help and Get Further!" Sir Jonathan Van- Tam MBE – Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England 2017-2022, recording on Learning from the pandemic and the mission of vaccinating the nation will be played before we conclude the day by hearing from Karen Storey – Nursing Retention and Liaison Lead, who will demonstrate to us Shiny Mind app and the benefits to us all for our wellbeing. Register
  23. Content Article
    These new updated guidelines, produced in collaboration between the Healthcare Infection Society and The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, used NICE-accredited methodology to provide further advice on which practices in the operating theatre are unnecessary. The guidelines are intended for an international audience. Specifically, they discuss the current available evidence for different rituals that are commonplace in the operating theatre and highlight the gaps in knowledge with recommendations for future research.
  24. Event
    until
    Overview: The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sets out a new approach to learning and improving following patient safety incidents across the NHS in England. This workshop will focus on applying PSIRF within Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). Audience: All PSIRF webinars are open to everyone to attend, including both NHS and arm’s length bodies. This webinar will focus on PSIRF in IPC. It is recommended for Directors of Infection Prevention and Control, IPC practitioners, IPC Doctors, Microbiologist, pharmacists and patient safety leads. Presenters: Tracey Herlihey – Head of Patient Safety Incident Response Policy, NHS England Rosie Dixon – Regional Head of IPC North West , NHS England Ruth Henein – Head of IPC and Aimee Joyce –Data and Information Co-ordinator, Northumbria-healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Sharon Edgell – ICB System Lead for IPC, NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB Register
  25. Event
    until
    As we grapple with the rising burden of chronic wounds in the UK, Public Policy Projects is excited to bring together key stakeholders from across the UK at a half-day conference that aims to examine how we can improve woundcare by breaking silos, delivering on joint-up care and raising the salience of the challenges. Following on from this year’s series of four roundtables focusing on challenges and opportunities within woundcare, PPP’s Woundcare Conference will serve as the launch of our flagship woundcare report. Our work will identify opportunities for efficiency gains and produce recommendations for reducing inequalities of access and outcomes for chronic wounds. It will provide an invaluable opportunity for our delegates and speakers to engage in a dynamic dialogue on how we can go further for wound healing, and improve outcomes, costs and population health through delivering better wound care. Register for the conference
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