Longton Health Centre

Infection Control Annual Statement Report April 2024

Purpose

This annual statement will be generated each year in April 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.

The report will be published on the practice website and will include the following summary:

• 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 risk assessments undertaken for the prevention and control of infection
• Details of staff training
• Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines Infection Prevention and Control

IPC CLINICAL lead

The lead for infection prevention and control at Longton Health Centre is Dr Carradus GP Partner (Clinical Lead for Nursing team)

The IPC lead is supported by Sara Heywood (Practice Director)

Infection transmission incidents (significant events)

Significant events involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events.

Positive events are discussed at meetings to allow all staff to be appraised of areas of best practice.

Negative events are managed by the staff member who either identified or was advised of any potential shortcoming. This person will complete a Significant Event Analysis (SEA) form that commences an investigation process to establish what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements.

All significant events are reviewed and discussed at internal PETs each month.

Any learning points are cascaded to all relevant staff where an action plan, including audits or policy review, may follow.

In the past year there have been 0 significant events raised that related to infection control.

There have also been 0 complaints made regarding cleanliness or infection control.

Infection prevention audit and actions

The annual IPC audit was carried out by the practice

Any actions arising from the audit are being followed up by the practice.

A full IPC audit is conducted annual, with quarterly update audits performed.

In addition, to the IPC audit the following audits are performed regularly: - Handwashing audits - Store cupboard audits - Domestic cleaning audits - Clinical room spot checks - Sharps audits

Risk assessments Risk assessments are carried out so that any risk is minimised to be as low as reasonably practicable.

Additionally, a risk assessment that can identify best practice can be established and then followed. In the last year, the following risk assessments were carried out/reviewed:

• General IPC risks
• Staffing, new joiners and ongoing training
• COSHH
• Cleaning standards
• Privacy curtain cleaning or changes
• Staff vaccinations
• Sharps

Training

In addition to staff being involved in risk assessments and significant events, at LHC all staff and contractors receive IPC induction training on commencing their post.

Thereafter, all staff receive refresher training annually.

Various elements of IPC training in the previous year have been delivered

- IPC Level 1 training to all staff

 - IPC Level 2 for clinical staff

Policies and procedures

Policies relating to infection prevention and control are available to all staff and are reviewed and updated annually. Additionally, all policies are amended on an ongoing basis as per current advice, guidance and legislation changes.

Responsibility

It is the responsibility of all staff members to be familiar with this statement and their roles and responsibilities under it.

Review

The IPC lead and Practice Director are responsible for reviewing and producing the annual statement.

This annual statement will be updated on or before April 2025.