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Found 644 results
  1. Content Article
    This letter from NHS England and NHS Improvement sent to clinical commissioning groups and trusts set out the changes to infection prevention and control measures following updates from the UK Health Security Agency.
  2. News Article
    A number of hospitals are insisting that patients keep wearing masks despite instructions from NHS chiefs to drop the rules. National coronavirus guidance which insisted on face coverings has now been scrapped, with health officials leaving it to local organisations to draft their own policies. However, several hospitals have called on patients and staff to continue to wear masks and face coverings on their sites. Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, has repeatedly called on NHS trusts to drop restrictions in hospitals which are limiting operational capacity. Last month, he threatened to name and shame hospitals that do not lift social distancing measures and restrictions on visitors. A letter from health chiefs said that patients visiting accident and emergency (A&E) departments, hospital outpatient appointments and GP surgeries no longer needed to wear masks “unless this is a personal preference”. Hospitals have now begun issuing guidance for their local communities, with a number saying they intend to keep insisting on people wearing masks. The Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS trust issued a notice to patients and staff saying: “We are still asking patients, visitors, staff and anyone working at one of our hospital or community sites to continue to wear a mask, gel hands and social distance while in our buildings despite the lifting of national restrictions." “This is to keep vulnerable people as safe as possible.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 8 June 2022
  3. Content Article
    Early in the pandemic, neither the NHS’s clinical or ancillary staff nor social care workers were adequately protected from the risks of catching covid-19 in the course of their work. In the UK alone, hundreds of infected workers have died, thousands have been admitted to hospital, and tens of thousands have experienced long term effects, How do we improve staff protection next time? Here’s David Oliver's manifesto.
  4. News Article
    The United States is now in its fourth-biggest Covid surge, according to official case counts – but experts believe the actual current rate is much higher. America is averaging about 94,000 new cases every day, and hospitalizations have been ticking upward since April, though they remain much lower than previous peaks. But Covid cases could be undercounted by a factor of 30, an early survey of the surge in New York City indicates. “It would appear official case counts are under-estimating the true burden of infection by about 30-fold, which is a huge surprise,” said Denis Nash, an author of the study and a distinguished professor of epidemiology at the City University of New York School of Public Health. While the study focused on New York, these findings may be true throughout the rest of the country, Nash said. In fact, New Yorkers likely have better access to testing than most of the country, which means undercounting could be even worse elsewhere. “It’s very worrisome. To me, it means that our ability to really understand and get ahead of the virus is undermined,” Nash said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 June 2022
  5. Content Article
    This report from the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers allows users to assess the variety of air cleaning devices currently marketed for the removal of SARS-CoV-2, and to discover which air cleaner, if any, will effectively reduce transmission risk in a given space.  This guidance will be of use to lay-readers, and also to those requiring a detailed background of air flow performance metrics, pollutant and viral decay, and tools assessing the performance of air cleaners in context.  
  6. Content Article
    Clinicians play an essential role in implementing infection prevention policy, but little is known about how infection control policy is implemented at an organisational level or what factors influence this process. This study explores the policy implementation process used in the introduction of a national large-scale, government-directed infection prevention policy in Australia.
  7. News Article
    Close contacts of people infected with monkeypox have criticised health officials for a lack of communication and support while they have to isolate. Public health experts and scientists have said the government needs to offer financial support to people forced to self-isolate for 21 days, as it emerged that one local council has already stepped in to provide sick pay for an infected man who could not work from home and was told he would not be paid. With cases of monkeypox on the rise in the UK – 106 were infections detected as of Friday – it’s thought hundreds of people have been told to self-isolate since the beginning of May. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it was providing daily calls for infected individuals and close contacts to offer support. However, one man from Leicester, whose housemate contracted monkeypox after visiting Gran Canaria pride festival, described UKHSA’s handling of his case as a “farce”, saying he has waited days for instruction from officials. “They couldn’t provide any meaningful or helpful information and nothing about housemates or close contacts,” the housemate told The Independent. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has meanwhile said countries should take quick steps to contain the spread of monkeypox and share data about their vaccine stockpiles. Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 May 2022
  8. Content Article
    This Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) investigation aims to improve patient safety in relation to the decontamination of surgical instruments. It focuses on the work of sterile services departments (SSDs) in hospitals, where reusable medical equipment is cleaned, disinfected and sterilised to make it safe before it is used again. The investigation looked at the regulatory framework which SSDs work within, and their use of assurance models, which provide evidence that a service is running according to the relevant policies and procedures. These mechanisms are designed to keep patients safe and enable NHS trusts to manage risk within their organisations. For its reference case, the investigation used the case of a 56 year-old woman who underwent surgery to remove a kidney stone in her right kidney. During the procedure, 'black stuff' came out of one of the instruments being used, which was later analysed and found to be dried blood. The surgeon stopped the surgery immediately and proceeded with an alternative procedure to remove the kidney stone, for which the patient had already consented. The patient was tested for blood-borne viruses as she had been exposed to another person's dried blood, but tests did not show any evidence that she had contracted any.
  9. Content Article
    In this article for The BMJ, Matthew Limb looks at the findings of the British Medical Association's (BMA's) review of the UK's management of the pandemic. The review found that many doctors had traumatic experiences during the pandemic, and highlights the following areas where the government could have better supported doctors: Preparedness including chronic underfunding of the NHS Personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages Inadequate infection prevention and control guidance Testing failures Lack of risk assessment and failure to protect vulnerable staff Deaths Long Covid Exhaustion Mental health and emotional wellbeing Anxiety and moral injury Isolation Lack of support Career prospects The review did also highlight the vaccination campaign and rollout as a notable success in the government's response to the pandemic.
  10. News Article
    The NHS threat level in response to Covid-19 has been downgraded following drops in community cases and hospital inpatient numbers, NHS England chiefs have announced. The threat level to the health service has been dropped from a “level four” incident, which requires NHSE to “command and control” NHS resources in response to the pandemic, to a “level three” incident, which requires a response by a number of trusts within an NHS region. A letter from NHSE chief executive Amanda Pritchard and chief operating officer Sir David Sloman, published today, said local systems “need to ensure their resilience and capability to re-establish full incident responses” if needed. At NHSE’s board meeting she stressed that covid was still impacting the service. Trusts have also been reminded to relax visiting restrictions. The letter said all healthcare settings “should now begin transitioning back towards their own pre-pandemic [or better] policies on inpatient visiting and patients being accompanied in outpatient and [urgent and emergency care] services”. The default position for trusts should be “no patient having to be alone unless through their choice,” the letter said. It comes as some trusts have resisted pressure from government and NHSE to relax visiting restrictions. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 May 2022
  11. News Article
    Respiratory syncytial virus is killing 100,000 children under the age of five every year worldwide, new figures reveal as experts say the global easing of coronavirus restrictions is causing a surge in cases. RSV is the most common cause of acute lower respiratory infection in young children. It spreads easily via coughing and sneezing. There is no vaccine or specific treatment. RSV-attributable acute lower respiratory infections led to more than 100,000 deaths of children under five in 2019, according to figures published in the Lancet. Of those, more than 45,000 were under six months old, the first-of-its-kind study found. More children are likely to be affected by RSV in the future, experts believe, because masks and lockdowns have robbed children of natural immunity against a range of common viruses, including RSV. “RSV is the predominant cause of acute lower respiratory infection in young children and our updated estimates reveal that children six months and younger are particularly vulnerable, especially with cases surging as Covid-19 restrictions are easing around the world,” said the study’s co-author, Harish Nair of the University of Edinburgh. “The majority of the young children born in the last two years have never been exposed to RSV (and therefore have no immunity against this virus).” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 19 May 2022
  12. Content Article
    This French study in the Journal of Hospital Infection evaluated the frequency and factors associated with environmental air and surface contamination in rooms of patients with acute Covid-19. It aimed to increase understanding of how the virus is transmitted in hospitals. The authors found that surfaces seemed to be more frequently contaminated with Covid-19 than air or mask samples, and noted that viable virus was rarely found. They suggest that samples from the inside of patients' face masks could be used to identify patients with a higher risk of contamination.
  13. News Article
    Local clinical leaders are continuing to question pressure from government and NHS England to relax Covid-19 visiting restrictions. Visitors, and people accompanying patients, have been restricted throughout covid, and in recent months there has been substantial local variation. Ministers and NHSE, as well as other politicians and some patient groups, have been pressing for more relaxed restrictions for some time and in recent weeks have stepped up their instructions. National visiting guidance was eased in March, and other infection control guidance, including requiring the isolation of covid contacts, was relaxed last month. Last week, the Daily Telegraph reported health and social care secretary Sajid Javid planned to “name and shame” trusts not implementing the changes, and to call hospital chief executives directly about it. Meanwhile, chief nursing officer Ruth May reiterated the visiting rules last month, saying on Twitter: “We must not underestimate the important contribution that visiting makes to the wellbeing and personalised care of patients and make it happen.” However, an NHSE online meeting for clinical leaders on Friday was told that while “a great number of trusts have returned to previous visiting policies… we know there are trusts which haven’t implemented this fully”. One said: “It is very difficult to safely return to pre-covid visiting as some hospital’s estate can’t safely support visitors in already over-crowded [emergency departments] and increasingly busy [outpatient departments]. “Surely local risk assessment is key and should be supported rather than increasing pressure to simply blanketly return to pre-pandemic arrangements everywhere?” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 May 2022 You may also be interested in: Visiting restrictions and the impact on patients and their families: a relative's perspective It’s time to rename the ‘visitor’: reflections from a relative
  14. Content Article
    These resources by Health Education for Scotland support their e-learning modules on hand hygiene. You will need an account to access the e-learning modules, but the supporting resources are available to download. Resources include: Hand hygiene: print version, PDF version of the SIPCEP foundation layer e-learning module 'Hand hygiene' for use in offline settings Advantages and disadvantages of alcohol based hand rub (ABHR), This document lists the advantages and disadvantages of using ABHRs and handwashing Preparing your hands before starting work: job aid, A short job aid for Hand hygiene Hand hygiene using alcohol based hand rub (ABHR): tip sheet, A short tip sheet for using ABHRs Washing hands with liquid soap and warm running water: tip sheet, A short tip sheet about washing hands with liquid soap Work based activity – Hand hygiene Video: What's stopping you? Video: Alcohol-based hand rub Video: Liquid soap and warm water
  15. Event
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    Choose the right dressing for the right wound: reduce waste, save time, save money, enhance lives In this webinar the following topics will be discussed: FarlaCare and their simple colour coding wound assistive solutions Demistifying wound care and helping you to do your job with ease Pick the right dressing every time, less waste, less time and less consumption. Speakers: Roy Lilley, health policy analyst, writer, broadcaster and commentator on the National Health Service and social issues Dr Leanne Atkin, PhD MHSc RGN is a Lecturer Practitioner at University of Huddersfield. Sian Fumarola, Head of Clinical Procurement at Integrated Supplies and Procurement Department, Stoke on Trent, NHS Supply Chains Katie Leek, Tissue Viability Nurse at NHS Register for the webinar
  16. Content Article
    The 5 May is World Hand Hygiene Day. This year's theme is focused on recognising that we can add to a facility's climate or culture of safety and quality through cleaning our hands but also that a strong quality and safety culture will encourage people to clean hands at the right times and with the right products. See the World Health Organization's questions and answers about World Hand Hygiene Day.
  17. Content Article
    As a role model or champion, feeling empowered to talk about hand hygiene to a range of colleagues is important. The World Health Organization has collated a number of hand hygiene improvement tools. These tools prime people to be able to unite to ensure clean hands by acting on the contents of these resources that support hand hygiene improvement in the context of organisational safety climate or culture change. They apply to a wide range of people working in health care.
  18. Content Article
    Infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes and practices play a vital role to ensure outbreak preparedness and control, including patient safety and quality of care, which remain essential components of universal health coverage across health systems worldwide. However, detailed IPC evaluations using standardised validated tools, such as the WHO IPC self-assessment framework (IPCAF), are limited.  Tomczyk et al. have conducted the first WHO global survey to assess implementation of these programmes in healthcare facilities. IPC professionals were invited through global outreach and national coordinated efforts to complete the online WHO IPC assessment framework (IPCAF). The study found that despite an overall high IPCAF score globally, important gaps in IPC facility implementation and core components across income levels hinder IPC progress. Increased support for more effective and sustainable IPC programmes is crucial to reduce risks posed by outbreaks to global health security and to ensure patient and health worker safety.
  19. Event
    When people seek healthcare, they are hoping to get better. Too often, however, they end up getting a new, avoidable infection – which is often resistant to antimicrobials and can sometimes even be fatal. When a health facility’s “quality and safety climate or culture” values hand hygiene and infection prevention and control (IPC), this results in both patients and health workers feeling protected and cared for. That is why the World Hand Hygiene Day (WHHD) theme for 2022 is a “health care quality and safety climate or culture” that values hand hygiene and IPC, and the slogan is “Unite for safety: clean your hands”. This webinar will bring together experts from WHO and from academic institutions and leaders from the field to discuss how a strong institutional quality and safety climate or culture that values hand hygiene and IPC is a critical element of effective strategies to reduce the spread of infection and antimicrobial resistance. New evidence on this as well as priorities for research in this area identified by WHO will be presented. With the help of a facilitator, participants will have the unique opportunity to dialogue with the expert panel and bring their experiences. The webinar will also be the exceptional moment for the launch of the first WHO global report on IPC. Now is the time to unite by talking about and working together on an institutional safety climate that believes in hand hygiene for IPC and high-quality, safe care. Objectives To overview the new WHO hand hygiene research agenda and evidence on the role of a health care quality and safety climate or culture for hand hygiene improvement. To describe a range of experiences regarding the evidence for and efforts to support a health care quality culture and safety climate through clean hands and IPC programmes of work. To launch the first WHO global report on IPC. Register
  20. News Article
    Hospitals are still banning patients from having bedside visitors in ‘immoral’ Covid restrictions. Last night, MPs, patient groups and campaigners criticised the postcode lottery that means some frail patients are still denied the support of loved ones. Nine trusts continue to impose total bans on any visitors for some patients, The Mail on Sunday has found. Almost half of trusts maintain policies so strict that they flaunt NHS England’s guidance that patients should be allowed at least two visitors a day. Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are among those continuing total bans on visiting for some of their patients. University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) has even been imposing its draconian restrictions on disabled patients who need special help for their care – only allowing visits on three days a week for a maximum of an hour each time. Tory MP Alicia Kearns said: ‘It is utterly unforgivable and immoral. There is no scientific evidence for any remaining inhumane restrictions on visiting. Trusts are breaching the rights of families. 'Visitors save lives, they advocate and calm their loved ones. When will this madness end?’ Read full story Source: MailOnline, 1 May 2022 You may also be interested in: Visiting restrictions and the impact on patients and their families: a relative's perspective It’s time to rename the ‘visitor’: reflections from a relative
  21. News Article
    A spike in the number of measles cases around the world has sparked concerns over the potential for serious outbreaks this year. Almost 17,338 measles cases were reported worldwide in January and February 2022, compared to 9,665 during the first two months of last year – which represents a rise of 79%. Unicef and the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that there is a “perfect storm” for serious outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illnesses such as measles. As of this month, the agencies report 21 large and disruptive measles outbreaks around the world in the last 12 months. The five countries with the largest measles outbreaks since the past year include Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia. The coronavirus pandemic has seen much of health funding and resources diverted to deal with the spread of the virus since 2020. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, 23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines through routine health services, the highest number since 2009 and 3.7 million more than in 2019. These pandemic-related disruptions – as well as increasing inequalities in access to vaccines – has left many children without protection against contagious diseases while Covid restrictions are eased in most countries, the two organisations said. Read full story Source: The Independent, 28 April 2022
  22. News Article
    Government policies on discharging untested patients from hospital to care homes in England at the start of the Covid pandemic have been ruled unlawful by the High Court. The ruling comes after two women took former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Public Health England to court. Dr Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris said it had caused a "shocking death toll". Prime Minister Boris Johnson renewed his apologies for all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic. Dr Gardner and Ms Harris partially succeeded in claims against Mr Hancock and Public Health England. The women claimed key policies of discharging patients from hospitals into care homes were implemented with no testing and no suitable isolation arrangements in the homes. A barrister representing Dr Gardner and Ms Harris told the court at a hearing in March that more than 20,000 elderly or disabled care home residents died from Covid between March and June 2020 in England and Wales. Jason Coppel QC also said in a written case outline for the judicial review that the care home population was known to be "uniquely vulnerable" to Covid. "The government's failure to protect it, and positive steps taken by the government which introduced Covid-19 infection into care homes, represent one of the most egregious and devastating policy failures in the modern era," he added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 April 2022
  23. News Article
    The NHS is falling behind in the race to tackle antibiotic-resistant infections, with the service set to miss two key targets. As part of the government’s 2019 five-year-action plan to tackle the growth in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the NHS was set the target of reducing the number of healthcare-associated bloodstream infections of three gram-negative bacteria by 25% by March this year, and 50% by the end of March 2024. Infections caused by E. coli, pseudomonas aeruginosa and klebsiella can cause urine or wound infection, blood poisoning or pneumonia. The AMR action plan said: “In the UK, the biggest drivers of resistance [include] a rise in the incidence of infections, particularly gram-negatives.” Last week, health and social care secretary Sajd Javid stressed the continuing importance of the issue, stating that antimicrobial resistance is “one of the biggest health threats facing the world”. Analysis by HSJ has shown there has been only a small decline in the numbers of cases involving the three bacteria since monitoring started. The baseline for measuring the reduction was 2016-17, when there were 23,037 healthcare associated infections related to the bacteria. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 April 2022
  24. News Article
    A healthcare worker caught Covid on two separate occasions over the course of just 20 days, a new study has shown. It is believed to be the shortest recorded time between two infections since the start of the pandemic. Since the arrival of the highly infectious Omicron variant, reinfections have become far more prominent. The 31-year-old woman from Spain first became infected with Delta in December 2021 – 12 days after she had received her Covid booster vaccine. Lab analysis showed that she had initially been infected by the Delta variant, followed by Omicron. Her case, which is being presented to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Portugal, is believed to represent the shortest recorded time between two separate infections. Dr Gemma Recio of the Institut Catala de la Salut in Spain, who is one of the study’s authors, said: “This case highlights the potential of the Omicron variant to evade the previous immunity acquired either from a natural infection with other variants or from vaccines". “In other words, people who have had Covid-19 cannot assume they are protected against reinfection, even if they have been fully vaccinated." Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 April 2022
  25. News Article
    A significant relaxation of infection control guidance has been announced in a bid to free up more capacity to tackle substantial waiting lists and demand for emergency care. New guidance issued jointly by the Department of Heath and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England and health bodies in the devolved nations, recommends the relaxation of isolation requirements for inpatients who either test positive for Covid-19 or are considered close contacts of people with the virus. The isolation period for inpatients with Covid-19 can now be reduced from 10 days to seven if they have two negative lateral flow tests. The tests must be taken on two consecutive days from day six of the isolation period onwards, and the patient must also “[show] clinical improvement”. A letter from NHSE released to trust chiefs, sent last Thursday, also recommends the “[return] of pre-pandemic physical distancing in all areas,” including emergency departments, ambulances and “all primary care, inpatient and outpatient settings.” It also recommends the returning to pre-pandemic cleaning procedures outside Covid-19 areas. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 April 2022
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