KGH Infection Prevention & Control Team

Infection Control: It’s everybody’s business, are you doing your bit?’

Infection prevention and control lies at the heart of the Trust Strategy, to be safe whilst providing clinically effective and focussed patient management. It remains a top priority within KGH and forms the core principles of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for the Trust. Evolving clinical practice brings new challenges to infection prevention and control and thus needs constant review of practice by clinical and the Infection Prevention and Control team. (IPaCT)

The Trust puts infection prevention and control and basic hygiene at the heart of good management and clinical practice. It is committed to ensuring that appropriate resources are allocated for effective protection of patients, their relatives, staff and visiting members of the public. In this regard, emphasis is given to the prevention of healthcare associated infection, the reduction of antibiotic resistance and the sustained improvement of cleanliness in the hospital.

The Trust has robust protocols in place for tackling MRSA which are based on national guidelines for MRSA prevention and control. Following this guidance, the majority of elective (planned) adult admissions and certain categories of day-case attendees will be screened for MRSA. We provide antiseptic body wash for all emergency admissions and screen all patients identified as at high risk of developing MRSA. This approach has led to the Trust recording just 1 case of hospital acquired MRSA bacteraemia (Blood stream infection) throughout 2011/12, 1 case 2012/13 and 2 cases in 2014/15. See our MRSA screening policy for more information.

MRSA is not the only infection that is monitored, the IPaCT have an IT system that provides updates 4 times a day to inform the team of incidents of infection which require specialist advice and liaise daily with the pathology laboratory and the consultant microbiologist to ensure the appropriate management of patients with infections. The Trust also completes mandatory reporting to the Department of Health of all incidents of Clostridium Difficile infection and Meticilllin Sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus ( MSSA) and Escherichia coli (E-coli) blood stream infections.

The Trust Board provide strategic leadership for effective delivery and the management of patient safety in relation to infection prevention and control.

A reports is submitted to each Trust Board meeting to update on the progress of infection control.

The Trust Leads for Infection Control are:

Dr. Manjula Natarajan, Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC), Consultant Microbiologist and Associate Medical Director. Advises clinical staff on the management and treatment of infections.
Leanne Hackshall, Director of Nursing and Quality - Trust Executive Lead for Infection Prevention and Control and Member of the Trust Board. Chair of the Infection Control Committee
Dawn Westmoreland, Lead Nurse Infection Prevention and Control – Leads the nursing infection prevention and control team, supporting ward staff on a daily basis.