The next challenge is to fully prepare for winter? Tendable, in association with Linda Dempster, IPC Consultant and Jay Turner-Gardner, Associate Director of Nursing at Wirral University Teaching Hospitals have applied lessons learnt from the pandemic to create a transformative Infection Prevention and Control framework.
Over the past 18 months, NHS and social care organisations have learnt a great deal about IPC, finding creative ways to transform what was traditionally a rigid, tick box exercise into an agile, strategic contributor to effective Quality Assurance. Here are five take-aways from recent events:
1. Adapt to fast-moving, constantly changing news - Driven by the requirement to provide daily COVID updates to NHS England and those ‘dreaded Friday afternoons’ when new Government policy changes were published
2. Digital is good but it’s not a level playing field - Automation was critical for releasing fast, accurate data but the systems deployed and the levels of sophistication displayed when using them varied significantly from site to site
3. Staff engagement takes top priority - Time and emotional pressures soon took their toll. When there is no respite for staff, how can organisations best support their employees?
4. Think outside the box - Did staff really need to check commodes every week when hand hygiene and PPE were more important? It was time to consider different ways of doing things
5. Role of IPC is elevated - One of the positives to emerge is that typically small IPC teams have grown and attracted more support from other parts of the organisation
Read our related article on 'Improving IPC Systems'.
IPC Consultant with over 30 years experience
Associate Director of Nursing - IPC at Wirral University Teaching Hospital
IPC Thought Leadership
6 mins reading time
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