Infection Control Statement: April 2021

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 each year. It will summarise:

• Any known injection transmission events and actions arising from this;
• Audits undertaken and any subsequent actions;
• Risk assessments undertaken for prevention and control of infection;
• Education and training received by staff; and
• Review and update of policies, procedures and guidance

Infection Control Team

The infection control team at Woodlands Medical Centre is:

• Lead Nurse: Heather Pinder- Infection Control Lead
• Lead HCA: Carla Davies- Lead for Waste Management
• Practice Manager: Paul Hackwood- responsible for external contracts with the external cleaning company, window cleaning company and infrastructure improvements.
• GP Partner: Dr Adam Jones

Infection transmission events or significant events involving infection control

In the year April 2020- April 2021 there have been no infection transmission events specific to Woodlands Medical Centre, with the exception of the global pandemic of Covid-19. There has been one significant event involving infection control, a Cold Chain Breach, in December 2020 following a power cut in Didcot which was beyond the control of the practice. The cold chain breach affected the vaccine stock. The cold chain breach was discovered at start of the day and as a result of robust checking procedures in place, a significant event raised straightaway and the Cold Chain Breach Policy was actioned. All appropriate procedures took place in order to ensure the efficacy and safety of vaccine stock.

Audits and risk assessments undertaken and subsequent actions

All polices relating to Infection Control have been reviewed and updated as required. Risk assessments have been undertaken and protocols introduced at Woodlands Medical Centre to address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, to maintain social distancing and to maximise the health, safety and well-being of patients and all practice staff and have constantly been reviewed, risk assessed and updated in line with changes in national and local guidelines with new measures introduced in infection control practice as required.

Wearing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has been strictly adhered to as recommended in guidance from Public Health England (PHE) and had been regularly risk assessed and changed as recommended in the updated guidance regularly provided by PHE.

All practice staff have been trained in donning and doffing PPE as per PHE guidelines.

For the past year all practice staff have participated in weekly PCR covid testing and are now undertaking twice weekly lateral flow tests for covid-19, to optimise a minimal risk of transmitting the virus to patients and colleagues.

An external Infection & Prevention Control Assessment was successfully carried out externally, in September 2020, by PML to ensure adherence to all measures required prior to the Community Gynaecological Clinic running their practice from Woodlands Medical Centre.

An internal audit of cleanliness and infection control procedures in March 2021 was undertaken and highlighted ongoing compliance and continued improvement of standards of infection control at Woodlands Medical Centre, with an action plan agreed for this year to maintain and continue improving standards of infection prevention and control at the practice.

An ongoing audit of the use of antimicrobials was undertaken in conjunction with the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group Medicines Management Team and shows Woodlands Medical Centre achieve improvement and achievement of targets

Training

New clinical staff including GPs, Nurses/HCAs, GP registrars, F2 doctors, physician associates, pharmacists and medical students have received comprehensive infection control training as part of their induction programme. All current staff have completed an annual update for hand hygiene in April 2021.

Review and update of policies, procedures and guidance

The infection control policy and all related prevention and infection control related policies/guidelines have been reviewed in March/April 2021 and made available for all staff to read for information and guidance.