Each year the practice conducts / reviews a risk assessment of it’s Infection Prevention and Control measures and will twice yearly conduct an internal audit to check compliance and report any items for action. The results of these audits and risk assessments will be published.

Purpose

In line with the Health and Social Care Act 2008: Code of Practice on prevention and control of infection and its related guidance, this annual statement will be generated annually in December. It will summarise:

• Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken (these will have been reported in accordance with our Significant Event procedure)
• Details of any infection control audits undertaken and actions undertaken
• Details of any infection control risk assessments undertaken
• Details of staff training
• Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines

Background & Scope – Infection Control Leads

Responsibilities within the Practice:

Infection prevention and control GP lead is Dr Sarah Roy

Infection prevention and control Nurse Lead is Nurse Claire Dixon.

Practice Manager is Natasha Newman.

This protocol applies to all staff employed by the practice.

Significant Events

We have had one significant event involving a near miss with needlestick/sharps injury.

Several sharps bins were brought into the surgery for disposal. Community nurses had collected the containers from the patient’s home; however the lids were not secured or labelled correctly. This posed a significant risk to all staff handling the containers.

This event was actioned promptly on the day. Community nurses were informed and all Practice staff were subsequently updated during protected learning time.

A reminder that all sharps bins issued to patients should be returned to their pharmacy for safe disposal and not the practice please.

Audits

In July 2017 an Infection Prevention and Control in General Practice Audit was completed by the lead nurse.

Regular checking of cleaning processes are completed. Spot checks are completed quarterly.

Infection Prevention and Control policies and procedures have been updated and circulated.

We have purchased new chairs for the waiting area which are compliant with infection control recommendations.

Risk Assessments

We complete annual risk assessments of the premises and safe systems of work are introduced as required.

Training

All practice staff have attended an infection control update and this forms part of our annual mandatory training.

Claire Dixon is the designated lead Nurse for IPC and has attended an infection control update specifically for Practice leads in June 2018.

Policies, Procedures and Guidelines

Policies relating to Infection Prevention and Control are reviewed and if appropriate updated annually. However, all are amended on an on-going basis as current advice changes.

Electronic copies of policies, procedures and guidelines can be found on the practice shared drive. Any changes are disseminated within the practice accordingly.

Responsibility

It is the responsibility of each individual to be familiar with this Statement and their roles & responsibilities under this. It is also the responsibility of the IPC Leads to ensure staff are familiar with the contents.

Review Date

To be reviewed annually.

The next review is due in July 2019

Responsibility for Review

The IPC Lead GP & IC Lead Nurse are responsible for reviewing the Statement.