INFECTION PREVENTION & CONTROL ARTICLES

Some of the key infection risks posed by water systems in hospitals and other healthcare facilities were discussed at the Infection Prevention Society’s Infection Prevention 2024 annual conference at the ICC, Birmingham. One of the topics to generate considerable debate was the ‘pros and cons’ of removing washbasins from rooms housing ‘high-risk’ patients where risk assessment indicates too high an infection risk from outlets and associated drainage. Louise Frampton, the editor of HEJ’s sister magazine, The Clinical Services Journal, reports.

In the second in a series of three articles on an infection and prevention control theme from the established architectural practice – the first appeared in the October 2024 HEJ – Melanie Jacobsen Cox, head of Healthcare at HLM Architects, considers some of the key infection and prevention and control (IPC) challenges healthcare design teams face, and suggests there is still a lack of sufficient knowledge on the subject among many such teams designing hospitals and other healthcare buildings.

COVID-19 highlighted gaps in public knowledge about infection prevention, emphasising the importance of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) in healthcare design. In this first article in a three-part series, associate director for Healthcare at HLM Architects, Neil Orpwood, discusses IPC in healthcare design, and specifically the importance of early collaboration among designers, architects, and IPC teams in creating safe healthcare environments. He also asks how our healthcare IPC design has adapted four years on from COVID-19.

Dr Simon Pybus, a specialist registrar in medical microbiology and infectious diseases in Glasgow, George McCracken, head of Estates Risk and Environment at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, and Dr Michael Weinbren, Consultant Medical Microbiologist, and Specialist Advisor Microbiology, New Hospital Programme, discuss the key role of the construction supply chain and manufacturers in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

New advances in sluice room technology mean that hospitals can improve their infection prevention and control procedures – while still saving money and reducing carbon emissions, according to ‘world-class’ infection prevention and control specialist, DDC Dolphin. The company’s Marketing and HR director, Zoe Allen, outlines the latest new opportunities available to NHS Trusts.

Thought-provoking presentations on a number of aspects of reducing healthcare-associated infections – ranging from the challenges of cleaning and decontaminating surgical instruments, to a company’s development of a range of compostable, single-use aprons made from a bio-resin – featured at a Central Sterilising Club Study Day, focused on the theme, ‘Dare to Defy the Dogma’. Louise Frampton, editor of HEJ’s sister title, The Clinical Services Journal, reports.