Best practice for infection prevention

Yvonne Carter, clinical director, Gama Healthcare, provides an overview of the fundamental best practice that should be carried out by healthcare workers, as well as the solutions and resources available to assist with best practice.

Infection prevention and control (IP&C) is a fundamental component of all health systems; it affects the health and safety of both patients and healthcare providers,¹ and plays a key role in preventing healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). The most common of these HCAIs include Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Escherichia coli (E. coli).²

In the UK, it is estimated 300,000 patients a year acquire HCAIs, with 15% among hospitalised patients and in almost 40% of patients admitted to the intensive care unit.^1,3 HCAIs can affect the quality of life and cause significant morbidity and mortality in those affected, accounting for 10,000 deaths each year in the UK. They also predispose acute healthcare workers to an increased risk of infections^.1,4 As a result of the morbidity HCAIs cause, they result in long hospital stays, which in turn costs the NHS an estimated £1 billion each year.⁵