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Knowing about Group B Strep when you’re pregnant or in the early weeks after birth can make a massive difference – most Group B Strep infections in newborn babies can be prevented, and early treatment can and does save lives. Group B Strep Awareness Week is a dedicated week to raise awareness of group B Strep – the most common cause of serious infection in newborn babies in the UK. Infections that are usually preventable. The week aims to inform expectant parents, healthcare professionals, and communities about the risks, prevention, and importance of testing and early treatment. In this blog, Patient Safety Learning has pulled together seven useful resources about Group Strep B shared on the hub. 1 Leaflet on Group B Strep The charity Group B Strep Support (GBSS) has produced an information leaflet, written in partnership with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), aimed particularly at pregnant people and new parents and includes information on what Group B Strep is, what it could mean for a baby, how to reduce the risk and the key signs of Group B Strep infection. The leaflet has been translated from English into 14 other languages 2 Group B Strep: Poppy's story Group B Strep is a type of bacteria which lives in the intestines, rectum and vagina of around 2-4 in every 10 women in the UK (20-40%). Most women carrying GBS will have no symptoms and although it is not harmful to pregnant women, it can affect babies around the time of birth. Read Poppy's story. 3 Leading for safety: A conversation with Jane Plumb, Founder of Group B Strep Support Jane Plumb is the Co-Founder of Group B Strep Support and the Women's Voices Lead for the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists. In this interview, she emphasises the importance of actively involving patients and families in patient safety discussions so that improvements can be informed by their insights and experiences. 4 New FREE eLearning module on group B Strep (30 July 2024) The charity Group B Strep Support have launched a new FREE eLearning module on group B Strep and it comes with one hour of Continued Professional Development (CPD) credit. This vital resource is for midwives, doctors and others working in maternity and neonatal care. It has been co-produced with families, midwives, obstetricians, neonatologists and others involved in maternity and neonatal services. 5 HSIB National Learning Report: Severe brain injury, early neonatal death and intrapartum stillbirth associated with group B streptococcus infection This report published in 2020 highlighted a number of patient safety concerns and recommends that maternity care providers should consider the findings and make necessary changes to their local systems to ensure that mothers and babies receive care in line with national guidance. 6 Symptoms of group B Strep infection in babies In the UK, up to two-thirds of GBS infection in babies are of early onset (showing within the first 6 days of life). Group B Strep Support have produced an awareness poster highlighting the symptoms. 7 NHS Resolution: Learning from claims related to early onset Group B Streptococcal disease in neonates This report examines clinical negligence claims related to early onset GBS disease in neonates. The analysis reviewed 19 closed claims notified between January 2016 and March 2023, of which 11 were settled with damages paid. The total cost of these closed claims was £1,430,894, including claimant legal costs, NHS legal costs and damages. The report makes practical recommendations for maternity and neonatal services, including improved triage systems, robust processes for tracking and communicating test results, and enhanced staff training in recognising signs of sepsis.

Julie Storr is an expert in the field of patient safety, quality and infection prevention and control (IPC), and a Topic leader for the hub.  In this blog, Julie explores how IPC guidance can inadvertently lead to psychological harm, when it is not applied through a person-centred lens. Drawing on literature and reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, she questions whether guidance supports both compassion and safety when applied in practice.  Infection prevention and control guidance Healthcare guidance is designed to support the delivery of safe, high quality care by providing clear and consistent recommended best practices based on available evidence. In infection prevention and control (IPC), guidance typically focuses on: transmission routes precautions clinical interventions isolation and a range of environmental controls. At the point of care, guidance is interpreted by health care workers, in context and often under pressure. IPC is widely described as fundamental to patient safety and quality of care. Its foundations in microbiology and epidemiology have saved countless lives and it has deep roots in the biomedical model. From Louis Pasteur to Florence Nightingale, its legacy is grounded in germ theory, surveillance, and control. This has resulted in highly effective, evidence-based systems and has also shaped guidance that is often highly technical, precaution-focused, and written in absolutes. The cost to human connection During COVID-19 the gap between guidance and practice was brought to the forefront. Preventing the transmission of a single infection became the dominant goal, sometimes at the expense of human connection. Stories of people dying without loved ones, or families waving through windows, are reminders that safety without humanity can equally result in harm. This gap between policy and practice became highly visible and caught the attention of many working in the field of IPC and beyond, including myself. Elements of this story have been told many times now, including in a previous blog for Patient Safety Learning. When ‘technically safe’ risks psychologically harm In reviewing a sample of international and national IPC guidelines recently, a few things stood out. Many run to hundreds of pages, detailing precautions in depth. The language is directive, one guideline from the English NHS used the word “must” close to 100 times, reinforcing certainty and compliance. By contrast, words like person-centred, compassion, loneliness, or humanity were rarely, if ever, used. Even anxiety appears only occasionally, often without guidance on how to allay fear. What is less visible in much IPC guidance is the person. This has been described by colleagues as the grey space, where the human dimension is under-specified and staff are left to navigate complexity themselves often under pressure. In those conditions, guidance can quickly become black and white. This can lead to decisions that are technically safe but that may contribute to psychological harms. As one reflection from the period of the pandemic put it, in the case of some loved ones “we protected them to death.” The implementation gap This tension between IPC guidance as written and as experienced in practice reflects a wider challenge, long recognised in patient safety: the implementation gap. As highlighted by Patient Safety Learning, this is the disconnect between patient safety guidance working in theory, but not in practice. Actions that may appear to address patient safety issues failing to account for a wide variety of organisational context, culture and capacities. In the context of IPC, guidance may be evidence-based and technically robust, but if it does not account for the realities of care delivery or the human needs of patients, it risks being applied in ways that are rigid, inconsistent or inadvertently harmful. Patient Safety Learning have emphasised that this gap persists where there is a lack of joined-up approaches, weak systems for sharing learning, limited oversight, and unclear leadership. Building on existing learning There are examples to learn from. Some guidance now acknowledges the psychological impact of isolation on people and a recent IPC guideline from Ireland is strong on person centredness. Frameworks from America and Canada have been developed that support ethical decision-making. But certainly within the guidelines I reviewed, in the majority, these elements are often brief, dare I say tokenistic, a sentence or at most a paragraph in documents of hundreds of pages, rather than embedded. Patient safety literature is increasingly recognising the importance of compassion as a core mechanism for safer care. As one review puts it, “compassionate interactions… can help to identify and address potential risks… that could endanger patient safety”. If IPC guidance is to be truly fit for purpose and for all people, it must move beyond acknowledging person-centredness to embedding it as a core element of patient safety. That means supporting staff to communicate risk in ways that inform rather than alarm, creating space for proportionate discretion, and treating patients and families as partners in prevention rather than passive recipients of rules. IPC can be person-centred. Some are already leading the way. But there is some way to go for this to be fully considered the norm across our health care systems. So where do we go from here? When IPC practitioners were asked on a recent webinar what person-centred IPC looks like, the answers were strikingly human: compassion, empathy, dignity, connection. For those designing, leading and delivering healthcare, a simple question may therefore be useful: Does our guidance support not only the prevention of infection, but the experience of safe, compassionate care? If the answer is not yet fully yes, then there is an opportunity for improvement.

The Ebola outbreak highlighted significant gaps in monitoring systems for healthcare professionals. Dynamic health information can be challenging to track and respond to effectively, increasing susceptibility to outbreaks of special pathogens. This webinar will describe operational challenges in post-exposure monitoring for Ebola and other special pathogens; explain how digital monitoring tools can strengthen healthcare workers’ safety; identify key design considerations for special pathogen monitoring systems; discuss how Ebola preparedness lessons can be applied to other special pathogens; evaluate how drills and simulations validate readiness; reveal near misses; test escalation pathways; improve coordination between occupational health, infection prevention, supervisors, emergency management, and public health; and recognise the importance of human oversight in digital preparedness systems. Register

Dr Claire Kilpatrick is a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) and has co-led on World Hand Hygiene Day since its launch. In this blog, Claire explains why she has always been actively involved in the campaign and what it means for patient safety.  World Hand Hygiene Day (WHHD) is a global campaign commemorated on 5 May every year, sharing targeted calls to action to support safer healthcare. Today marks its 18th year, and I have been privileged to be part of this campaign since its conception. So why do I continue to be an active supporter? The threat to patient safety Health care-associated infections, which are avoidable infections, continue to be a daily potential threat to patients in every hospital and clinic. Health care-associated infections: contribute to the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) burden cause immense suffering to patients, families and health workers can cause premature death and disability result in higher health care costs and hamper efforts to achieve high-quality care for all. Preventing harm A substantial proportion of these could, however, be prevented if hand hygiene and other infection prevention and control (IPC) actions were taken at the correct times. IPC and hand hygiene action provide a high return on investment within health system expenditure and have a significant positive effect on health outcomes for all countries. Hand hygiene and IPC best practices continue to be compromised by a substandard-built environment, including where inadequate provision of clean water, lack of effective sanitation, waste management and hygiene exist. We are seeing more of these issues arise - and not just in low and middle income countries but across some settings in high income countries where sanitation is a challenge. For WHHD 5 May 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on all those providing and supporting health care to refresh their action on hand hygiene and IPC, to ensure patient and health worker safety – because Action saves lives, as this year’s campaign slogan goes. Share your WHHD actions WHO supports campaign efforts every year by issuing a range of resources. Anyone can take part in the campaign using these or their own resources. And there is a way you can share your actions, either here on the hub (by commenting below – sign up first for free) or in the WHO IPC community of practice. Every year I collate examples from around the world and present them in the webinars! Action really does save lives - we can all be a part of WHHD.

This stakeholder kit supports the promotion of World Hand Hygiene Day, a WHO global initiative, on 5 May. World Hand Hygiene Day is a global initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and is held on 5 May each year. You are encouraged to use these resources to raise awareness about how hand hygiene can help save lives by preventing the spread of infection. To support the WHO’s theme “Action saves lives”, the Commission’s overarching theme for World Hand Hygiene Day 2026 is: “Action saves lives – Safer care starts with clean hands”. By promoting World Hand Hygiene Day, you can help reinforce the importance of hand hygiene in preventing healthcare-associated infections.

Good hand hygiene in healthcare is essential to reduce the spread of healthcare associated infections (HAIs), which are the most frequent adverse event in healthcare globally. Although progress has been made in improving hand hygiene, there is still a pressing need to give healthcare professionals around the world the necessary knowledge and facilities to achieve effective infection control. The latest World Health Organization (WHO) data shows that globally, half of healthcare facilities do not have basic hand hygiene services, one in five facilities have no water services and one in ten have no sanitation services. We've pulled together useful resources about hand hygiene that have been shared on the hub. They include advice on effective handwashing, resources for healthcare professionals on how to promote hand hygiene and a global tool for monitoring hand hygiene interventions. 1. Scientia potentia est—Why sharing knowledge about hand hygiene remains important In this blog, hub topic leader Julie Storr looks at the question of why it's still so important to share knowledge about hand hygiene. She highlights the power of sharing knowledge to save lives, the need to address research gaps and that hand hygiene should be integrated into all aspects of frontline care. She also shares tools and resources that can be used to help train and equip frontline healthcare professionals. 2. Health Education for Scotland - Hand hygiene learning resources Resources by Health Education for Scotland to 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. 3. Improving hand hygiene in the anesthesia workspace: The importance, opportunities, and obstacles Anaesthesia professionals have consistently been leaders in patient safety and have long recognised the importance of hand hygiene in the anaesthesia workspace. Hand contamination is associated with pathogen transmission across multiple anaesthesia workspace reservoirs, and genome analysis of bacteria cultured from provider hands and infection causing pathogens have confirmed that providers transmit pathogens that result in patient infections. These findings should provide the impetus for widespread improvements in hand hygiene compliance for all intraoperative personnel, with anaesthesia professionals taking the lead. 4. WHO: Your 5 moments for hand hygiene This poster summarises WHO’s ‘Five moments for hand hygiene’ model, which WHO released in 2006 in collaboration with the infection prevention and control (IPC) research group at the University of Geneva. The approach aims to facilitate behavioural change and prioritise hand hygiene action at the right time to prevent infection transmission and avoid harm to patients and healthcare workers during care delivery. 5. Hand hygiene acceleration framework tool The Hand Hygiene Acceleration Framework Tool (HHAFT) has been developed by The Global Handwashing Partnership. It tracks the process that governments have taken to develop and implement a plan of action for hand hygiene improvement, and assesses the quality of that plan. It helps identify barriers, opportunities and priority actions for accelerating progress towards hand hygiene and drive investment to these plans. Use of this common framework allows countries to share learning and helps direct and coordinate global action. The webpage includes a dashboard that presents the latest data from different countries. 6. Supporting you to talk about hand hygiene: A primer for those in health care As a champion for hand hygiene, feeling empowered to talk about the topic to a range of colleagues is important. WHO has collated a number of hand hygiene improvement tools to help anyone working in healthcare promote good hand hygiene within their organisation. 7. Video: How to wash your hands Patients can contribute to infection prevention and control by making sure they wash their hands effectively—it’s one of the easiest and most important ways for patients to protect themselves and others from infectious illnesses. This NHS video demonstrates the best way to wash your hands and describes when you should do it. 8. WHO global taskforce on WASH in health care facilities: synthesis 2022-2023 The Global Taskforce on WASH in healthcare facilities aims to provide global strategic direction and coordination to WHO and UNICEF, and to promote information sharing and dialogue. It evolved from a series of think tanks convened by WHO. This webpage links to a summary of their work in 2022-23. 9 WHO Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework 2010 The Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework is a systematic tool with which to obtain a situation analysis of hand hygiene promotion and practices within an individual healthcare facility. 10 Implementation of a quality improvement project using the patient as the observer to improve hand hygiene compliance in ambulatory care practices This 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. 11 e-Bug: Resources for children and young people about infection control and AMR (UKHSA) 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. 12 World Hand Hygiene Day 2026 resources (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care) This stakeholder kit supports the promotion of World Hand Hygiene Day, a WHO global initiative, on 5 May. Have your say Do you have any stories, insights or resources related to hand hygiene? We would love to hear from you! Comment below (register for free here first) Get in touch with us directly to share your insights

At Patient Safety Learning we believe that sharing insights and learning is vital to improving outcomes and reducing harm. That's why we created the hub; providing a space for people to come together and share their experiences, resources and good practice examples.  To support. WHO's World Immunisation Week, we have picked 14 resources full of practical advice about vaccination in a range of settings. 1 WHO: Vaccines explained "Vaccines Explained" is a series of illustrated articles from the World Health Organization that describe how vaccines work, how they’re developed and distributed and how their safety is carefully monitored. 2 EDUCATE KS3 lesson pack: HPV vaccination Co-produced by young people and researchers from the University of Bristol and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, ‘EDUCATE’ helps teach students about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and provide reassurance about receiving the vaccine, which is usually offered to teenagers at school as part of the national vaccination programme. 3 The Green Book: Immunisation against infectious diseases The Green Book is published by the UK Health Security Agency and contains the latest information on vaccination procedures for vaccine-preventable infectious diseases in the UK. It offers guidance on general safety considerations and clinical procedures relating to immunisation, as well as specific information on a wide range of diseases and vaccinations. 4 Vaccination awareness toolkit for children and young people The School And Public Health Nurses Association (SAPHNA) has coproduced this vaccination toolkit with children and young people. It aims to increase young people's awareness of what vaccines are, why they are important and what to expect from different types of vaccines. 5 Improving communication about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme among families In England, young people aged 12 to 13 years are offered immunisation against HPV as part of the NHS vaccination programme. However, research by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation at the University of Bristol has identified sustained inequalities in uptake by area and minority ethnic groups. They have produced a number of information videos to address information needs about HPV among young people. They were coproduced with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and diverse ethnic groups. 6 A visual guide to vaccines for the UK routine vaccination programme This guide by the UK Health Security Agency is designed to help ensure healthcare workers administer the right vaccines at the right time. It provides photos of all vaccines used in the UK routine immunisation programme, as well as information on when each vaccine should be given and its different trade names and abbreviations. 7 Pain management in infant immunisation: A cross-sectional survey of UK primary care nurses Childhood immunisation is a critically important public health initiative. However, since most vaccines are administered by injection, it is associated with considerable pain and distress. Despite evidence demonstrating the efficacy of various pain management strategies, the frequency with which these are used during routine infant vaccinations in UK practice is unknown. This study aimed to explore primary care practice nurses’ use of evidence-based pain management strategies during infant immunisation, as well as barriers to evidence-based practice. 8 Shingles Vaccination Programme: GP toolkit for improving uptake About 1 in 5 people who have had chickenpox develop shingles, predominantly those who are over 70. However, uptake rates of the shingles vaccine are falling in London and across England. The purpose of this toolkit is to help GPs better protect their patients by suggesting ways to improve uptake of the shingles vaccine. These suggestions are based on best practice and evidence and have been shown to work with little or no cost to practices. 9 Interview with Charlet Crichton, founder of UKCVFamily UKCVFamily was set up in November 2021 to support patients in the UK who have had an adverse reaction to a Covid-19 vaccination. The group provides help and advocacy as well as raising awareness amongst healthcare professionals, the media and the Government. In this video for the hub, founder of UKCVFamily Charlet Crichton talks about why she established the group and describes the support it offers to patients. 10 Measles and rubella vaccine microneedle patch: new hope to reach the unreached children This Lancet article looks at how microneedle patches (MNPs) could potentially improve coverage of childhood vaccinations by providing a more thermostable, individual-dose, injection-free vaccine delivery device suitable for administration by local, non-medical personnel. MNPs could also reduce wasted vaccine doses, needle-stick injuries and breaks in the cold chain, as well as making waste management easier. 11 Whooping cough resurgence as vaccination rates slump Official data on whooping cough show that reports of suspected cases are at a 15-year high in the first three months of 2024. This article in the Pharmaceutical Journal looks at why cases are increasing, including falling rates of children receiving the childhood 6-in-1 vaccine and maternal vaccination. It outlines the symptoms of whooping cough, describes how it can be treated and includes a map identifying infection 'hot spots' in England and Wales. 12 Enhancing vaccine confidence across ethnic minority communities The Collaboration for Change is a group of two UK universities, nine community organisations and two small and medium size enterprises, who have conducted research on how to improve vaccine uptake among ethnic minority groups. The report highlights the factors influencing vaccine uptake. 13 Vaccination in the UK: Access, uptake and equity Over the last decade, the uptake of vaccines in the UK has stalled and is in many cases falling. Declining rates of routine childhood vaccination in a country with a well-established universal healthcare system are extremely concerning and pose a significant public health risk, with outbreaks of preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough already being seen. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH)'s Commission on Immunisation policy report assesses how and why vaccine uptake has stalled or declined. It outlines the evidence and our recommendations to increase uptake of routine childhood vaccinations across three broad themes: access to services, improved data systems and strengthening public information, education and communication. 14 UK Covid-19 Inquiry: Module 4 -Vaccines and therapeutics The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has published its fourth report and recommendations following its investigation into ‘Vaccines and therapeutics of the United Kingdom’. It considers and makes recommendations on a range of issues relating to the development of Covid-19 vaccines and the implementation of the vaccine rollout programme in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Issues relating to the treatment of Covid-19 through both existing and new medications were examined in parallel. Do you have a resource or story to share about immunisation safety? We’d love to hear about it - leave a comment below or join the hub to share your own post.

Warming up for World Hand Hygiene Day, 5 May 2026 and for achieving the global monitoring framework for infection prevention and control (IPC). Hear from a range of speakers, exploring the actions and resources linked with World Hand Hygiene Day to help plan your approach to meeting the WHO Global action plan and monitoring framework indicators and targets, to be achieved incrementally by 2030. Register