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Infection Control Statement

We aim to keep our surgery clean and tidy and offer a safe environment to our patients and staff. We are proud of our modern, purpose built Practice and endeavour to keep it clean and well maintained at all times.

If you have any concerns about cleanliness or infection control, please report these to our Reception staff.

Our GPs and nursing staff follow our Infection Control Policy to ensure the care we deliver and the equipment we use is safe.

We take additional measures to ensure we maintain the highest standards:

  • Encourage staff and patients to raise any issues or report any incidents relating to cleanliness and infection control.  We can discuss these and identify improvements we can make to avoid any future problems
  • Carry out an annual infection control audit to make sure our infection control procedures are working
  • Provide annual staff updates and training on cleanliness and infection control
  • Review our policies and procedures to make sure they are adequate and meet national guidance
  • Maintain the premises and equipment to a high standard within the available financial resources and ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to reduce or remove all infection risk
  • Use washable or disposable materials for items such as couch rolls, modesty curtains, floor coverings, towels etc., and ensure that these are laundered, cleaned or changed frequently to minimise risk of infection
  • Make Alcohol Hand Rub Gel available throughout the building.

Lyngford Park Surgery: Annual Statement for Infection Prevention and Control (Primary Care) 

It is a requirement of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance that the Infection Prevention and Control Lead produces an annual statement regarding compliance with good practice on infection prevention and control and makes it available for anyone who wishes to see it, including patients and regulatory authorities. This Annual Statement will be published on the Practice website. 

The Annual Statement should provide a short review of any:  

  • known infection transmission event and actions arising from this.  
  • known infection transmission event and actions arising from this.  
  • risk assessments undertaken for prevention and control of infection.  
  • training received by staff and future training plans or need.
  • review and update of policies, procedures and guidance.  

Infection Control Annual Statement: August 2024

Purpose
This annual statement will be generated each year in August in accordance with the requirements of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Lead Nurse: Samantha Mcloughlin ANP

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Deputy: Casey Gratton HCA   

The IPC Leads are supported by the local IPC team –

Local Lead ICB IPC Nurse: Michelle Bell, Mobile: 07880171088, Infection Prevention and Control quality improvement nurse

Infection Prevention Control Team:
NHS Somerset
Wynford House
Lufton Way
Lufton
Yeovil
Somerset
BA22 8HR

Email: [email protected]
Social Media: @NHSSomerset
Website: www.nhssomerset.nhs.uk

Infection transmission incidents (Significant Events) 

Significant events (which may involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events) are investigated in detail to see what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements. All significant events are reviewed in the Quarterly IPC Meetings and learning is cascaded to all relevant staff. 

In the past year there have been two significant events related to infection control. Learning from this event included: 

  • Discussion at team meeting to increase awareness, and how to use spill kits, including kit location and importance of adequate PPE.
  • Discussion at team meeting to increase awareness, and how to adequately dispose of clinical waste including introduction of new tiger-striped bin bags and what should be included where when segregating waste. 

Infection Prevention Audit and Actions

Recent meetings and IPC significant events have highlighted a lack of understanding in non-clinical staff about IPC practices, and amongst all staff training (which has been predominately online) has been basic. Because of this the practice has invested in all staff by purchasing the IPC 5th edition workbook which will be completed by all staff and reviewed by the IPC lead nurse, to ensure any gaps in knowledge or understanding are addressed.

New IPC topics page has been launched on Clarity Team Net – which is saved to ‘useful links’ and centralises all IPC information for the staff to access easily. All IPC policies and procedures have been updated to reflect currently standards and new lead/deputy appointed. All the records of audits are available for access via this page.

The practice will also have a quarterly IPC day, with dedicated time for lead/deputy to conduct audits, review facilities and implement any actions. The practice will have mock visits from IPC team and highlight alerts, newsletters and updates to staff via the topics page on Clarity Team Net.