PANDEMIC INFLUENZA

Pandemic (H1N1) influenza: a summary of guidance for infection control in healthcare settings (8th January 2010)
This document is an updated version of Pandemic flu: A summary of guidance for infection control in health care settings issued in September 2007. It is specific to the current pandemic influenza virus, pandemic (H1N1), and thus represents current guidance.
Guidance

Pandemic influenza: summary infection control guidance for ambulance services during an influenza pandemic (8th January 2010)
The purpose of this document is to set out concise summary guidance for infection control for the ambulance services and it is intended for use during the pandemic. The guidance in this document is equally applicable to lay responders, who should adopt the same infection control and hygiene measures.
Guidance

INFECTION CONTROL

The Health and Social Care Act 2008: Code of Practice for health and adult social care on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance (16th December 1998)
The Code of Practice, which comes into force on 1 April 2010 for the NHS and October 2010 for all other registered providers, sets out the criteria against which a registered provider will be assessed by the Care Quality Commission. It also provides guidance on how the provider can meet the registration requirement relating to healthcare associated infections set out in the regulations.
Guidance

MRSA objective for 2010-11 (11th December 2009)
Following a recommendation from the National Quality Board, from April 2010, NHS organisations will be set an objective for reducing MRSA infections, relative to the median, with the best-performers setting their objectives locally.

The MRSA objective reflects a zero tolerance approach to preventable infections and the aim of reducing variation in performance on MRSA bloodstream infections.
Publication

DENTAL

Local self-assessment audit for assessing implementation of HTM 01-05: decontamination in primary care dental practices and related infection prevention and control issues (1st December 2009)
The Department of Health and Infection Prevention Society (DH/IPS) audit tool has been produced jointly by the Department and the Infection Prevention Society to allow practices to assess their level of compliance with HTM 01-05. It will allow practices to identify areas where they need to improve the quality of the decontamination process to achieve essential quality requirements and best practice as identified in the guidance document.

The Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices is also available.
Audit Tool

INFECTION CONTROL

Max4Health hand hygiene evaluation report (23rd October 2009)
This report sets out the results of an evaluation of the Max4Health hand hygiene campaign undertaken at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust over a nine week period between February and April 2009.
Report

CARE QUALITY COMMISSION

Closing the Gap. Tackling cardiovascular disease and health inequalities by prescribing statins and stop smoking services (18th September 2009)
This new report, from Care Quality Commission (CQC) is calling for a renewed drive to cut numbers of people with cardiovascular disease (CVD) which is responsible for one in three deaths in England.

The report also highlights health inequalities between people in deprived areas and other parts of the country, of which CVD is the biggest cause.
Report

The right information, in the right place, at the right time: A study of how healthcare organisations manage personal data (21st September 2009)
This report, from CQC, calls for better patient care by ensuring the right patient information is in the right place, at the right time.

Healthcare organisations should meet the individual care needs of patients by making better use of the patient information they collect.
Report

Working together to prevent and control infections (21st September 2009)
Infections are passing between hospitals and care homes due to a lack of communication between care services.

This report highlights a need for hospitals and care homes to provide information about infections to each other to:

• make sure that people with, or recovering from, an infection are cared for properly
• reduce the chances of other people being infected

Report

2009 survey of mental health acute inpatient services (24th September 2009)
The biggest-ever national survey of people's experiences of acute mental health inpatient services reveals that too great a proportion feel they were let down in some important aspects of the care they received, says the CQC. More than 7,500 people recently discharged from 64 NHS trusts across England gave their views on each stage of their care from the moment they were admitted to hospital to the support they got after they left.
Survey

STATISTICS

Statutory Homelessness: 2nd Quarter (April to June) 2009, England (10th September 2009)

Place Survey: England - Headline Results 2008 (Revised) (originally published 23rd June 2009, revised version published 7th September 2009)

MRSA and C. Difficile continue to fall (10th September 2009)

Use of NICE appraised medicines in the NHS in England - Experimental Statistics (9th September 2009)

Diagnostics waiting times and activity data: July 2009, and Diagnostics Census for quarter ending June 2009 (9th September 2009)

Guardianship under the Mental Health Act 1983, England 2009 (15th September 2009)

Prescribing for Diabetes in England: Supplement - January 2002 to March 2009 (15th September 2009)

Primary Care Trust Prescribing Data - April to June 2009 (10th September 2009)

Provisional monthly hospital episode statistics for admitted patient care and outpatient data, April 2008-May 2009 (9th September 2009)

DENTAL

Local self-assessment audit for assessing implementation of HTM 01-05: decontamination in primary care dental practices and related infection prevention and control issues (24th August 2009)
This audit tool has been produced jointly by the Department and the Infection Prevention Society, to allow practices to assess their level of compliance with the HTM 01-05: decontamination in primary care dental practices. It will allow practices to identify areas where they need to improve the quality of the decontamination process to achieve essential quality requirements and best practice, as identified in the guidance document.
Audit Tool

INFECTION CONTROL

Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections in Hospitals in England (12th June 2009)
The Department of Health has met its target to reduce MRSA bloodstream infections by 50 per cent by 2008 and has made encouraging progress towards its target to reduce Clostridium difficile infections, according to a National Audit Office report published today. However, blood stream infections due to other causes may be increasing. There is also no national data that captures information on some of the most common healthcare associated infections, such as urinary tract infections and pneumonia.
Report

INFECTION CONTROL

Tackling healthcare associated infections through effective policy action (8th June 2009)
The aim of this report is to examine the evidence base for the range of infection control policies, and identify areas for action in tackling the problem. It builds on the 2006 BMA Board of Science publication Healthcare associated infections - a guide for healthcare professionals which sets out the responsibilities healthcare professionals have in managing and reducing the incidence of HCAIs. As with other BMA Board of Science publications, this report is intended for policy makers with strategic or operational responsibility for public health in the UK, and will be of interest to healthcare professionals and patients.
Report

DENTAL

Decontamination: Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices (9th April 2009)
This guidance has been produced to reflect a reasonable and rational response to emerging evidence around the effectiveness of decontamination in primary care dental practices, and the possibility of prion transmission through protein decontamination of dental instruments.
Guidance

INFECTIONS

Clostridium difficile infections continue to fall (16th April 2009)
Latest figures, released by the Health Protection Agency, show that cases of the healthcare associated infection Clostridium difficile are continuing to fall.
Information

Template Patient Leaflets on MRSA Screening (16th April 2009)
The NHS is now screening all relevant patients for MRSA before planned operations. This will help the NHS reduce the chances of patients getting an MRSA infection or passing MRSA onto another patient. These template patient leaflets have been developed to assist local areas in their patient communications around this topic.
Leaflets

DRUGS

The primary prevention of Hepatitis C among injecting drug users (25th February 2009)
The findings in this report conclude that a single intervention may not, alone, be sufficient to prevent the spread of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The evidence suggests that a combination of Opiate Substitution Therapy (OST) and the provision of Needle and Syringe Programmes (NSP) may be the most effective way of reducing HCV incidence among active injecting drug users (IDU).

This report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, is being published concurrently with and complementary to public health guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on Needle and Syringe programmes: providing people who inject drugs with injecting equipment.
Report

INFECTION CONTROL

Infection Control Minimum Standards (4th February 2009)
These are the minimum standards that the Royal College of Nursing and the Infection Control Nurses' Association believe should be accepted and mandated by Government, the relevant UK departments of health and, where applicable, all independent health care organisations.
Standards

INFECTION CONTROL

The Health and Social Care Act 2008: Code of Practice for the NHS on the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections and related guidance (23rd January 2008)
This Code comes into force on 1st April 2009 and sets out how the Care Quality Commission will assess compliance with the requirements set out in the Regulations made under section 20(5) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
Guidance

INFECTION CONTROL

Clostridium difficile infection: how to deal with the problem (15th January 2008)
Based on a report by a working group established by the Health Protection Agency's Steering Group on Healthcare Associated Infection, the guidance gives advice on the most effective methods of prevention and control of this infection and the management of outbreaks.

Guidance

INFECTION CONTROL

MRSA Screening - Operational Guidance 2 (5th January 2009)
This guidance is to support NHS trusts, (including Primary Care Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts) in introducing MRSA screening for all elective patients by the end of March 2009. It is intended to clarify expectations around the roles of the Department of Health, acute, primary care, other NHS Trusts, NHS foundation trusts, Monitor and Strategic Health Authorities over the next 3 months in ensuring the commitment is achieved. Monitor is currently consulting on the inclusion of the requirement to introduce elective screening for all elective patients with its Compliance Framework from 1 April 2009. This guidance is aimed primarily at Chief Executives and Directors of Performance. It will be of interest to Finance Directors, Directors of Nursing and Medicine, Directors of Infection Prevention and Control and their teams, medical microbiologists, laboratory managers, bed managers and those running pre-admission clinics and admission units.
Letter

INFECTION CONTROL

Impact assessment of screening elective patients for MRSA (5th December 2008)
The policy objective is to reduce the risk of infection for MRSA, and ultimately the number of infections, by screening elective inpatients for MRSA.
Impact Assessment

INFECTION CONTROL

PL/CNO/2008/5: Improving cleanliness and infection control: from deep clean to keep clean - learning from the deep clean programme (28th October 2008)
Professional Letter from Chris Beasley, Chief Nursing Officer, and David Flory, Director General NHS Finance, Performance and Operations announcing the publication of a compendium of good practice examples from the national deep clean initiative and clarifying expectations for deep cleaning in the future.
Document

From deep clean to keep clean: learning from the deep clean programme (28th October 2008)
This compendium is designed to identify areas of good practice arising from the national deep clean initiative and become a basis for sharing learning across organisations.
Document

INFECTION CONTROL

Going Further Faster II: Applying the learning to reduce HCAI and improve cleanliness (29th August 2008)
This guide is a summary of the key interventions that will enable organisations to prioritise efforts and maximise impact. It reflects the accumulated learning, evidence and good practice on the critical actions that NHS trusts can take. The guide aims to help everyone move faster and in a sustainable way towards the goal of zero tolerance toward infection and delivering a clean NHS.

Guide

INFECTION CONTROL

MRSA Screening - operational guidance (31st July 2008)
This guidance is to support NHS trusts in introducing MRSA screening for all elective patients by the end of March 2009.
Click here for the Guidance

The Impact of Organisation and Management Factors on Infection Control in Hospitals: a Scoping Review (29th July 2008)
This report gives the results of a rapid scoping review to identify evidence about organisational and management factors affecting infection control in general hospital settings. The review identified organisational characteristics that should be considered ‘risk factors’ for infection including: team stability and morale, workloads, negative leadership.
Click here for the Report

ESAC-Pr New Technologies Working Group: report on prion inactivating agents (5th August 2008)
The report gives advice on the applicability of the various anti-prion technologies that are on, or close to market as part of the surgical instrument decontamination cycle.
Click here for the Report