About the Infection Prevention and Control Team

The delivery methods vary slightly within each geographical area due to the variety of stakeholders and their internal systems, but the outcomes are consistent.

The purpose of the Infection Prevention and Control Team is to:

• provide oversight and scrutiny of infection prevention standards
• provide assurance to the DsPH at Lancashire County Council and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council that safe systems are in place to prevent and manage infections across the county
• ensure all local health and social care providers are meeting the criteria set in the Code of Practice for Infection Prevention and other Guidance
• use relevant data sources to improve the safety of the population in regard to infection prevention.
• support and advise health care commissioners in their role in monitoring and reducing specific HCAIs against the NHS Outcomes Framework.
• support commissioners of social care to ensure safe standards for infection prevention are embedded in contracts and everyday practice.
• support other agencies e.g. CSU and NHSE to understand the significance of the data
• work in collaboration with UKHSA to support providers to effectively respond to outbreaks of infections

The aims objectives of the service are to:

• reduce preventable infections in health and social care settings
• monitor key infection performance indicators by using surveillance and auditing to identify any trends
• deliver of targeted forums, and information in newsletters, to include information to reduce preventable infections in care settings.
• promote the forums through newsletters and twitter platform.
• adapt national guidance to meet local needs and communicate with care providers.
• support outbreak management by undertaking appropriate risk assessments
• support public health messages by education and communication
• deliver infection prevention programmes such as school hand hygiene awareness sessions, promoting the importance of nutrition and hydration, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The outcomes to be achieved and how these will be measured are:

• to achieve a zero tolerance of preventable infections
• achieve the criterion set in the annual delivery programme for infection prevention

The team roles and responsibilities or accountabilities are to:

• be responsible for the management of the Infection Prevention Service
  • day to day management of infection prevention on an area basis – North, East and Blackburn with Darwen, Central and the over-arching Hub and direct line management responsibilities
  • to lead on the management of the IPC team duty mailbox
• use clinical knowledge to influence and embed safe, evidence-based practice in infection control across areas of responsibility
  • works as the link for providers across the county by attending Provider IPCC and NHSE Collaborative meetings
  • work in collaboration with key partners to promote the use of excellent clinical standards, and best evidence-based practice in relation to infection prevention
  • advise health and social care professionals on the prevention and control of communicable diseases and HCAIs
  • escalate issues of concern and poor performance appropriately and support multi-disciplinary meetings
• link with Safeguarding, Contracts and Radar to ensure the safety of residents receiving social care
• promote a culture where clinical care is provided in clean, safe environments, excellent standards of clinical care are attained and maintained and all service users, colleagues, and visitors are treated with dignity and respect
  • visit care homes, nurseries, and community settings to give advice especially management advice at times of outbreaks
  • oversee improvements in IPC service delivery by monitoring the provider action plans
  • support social care providers to maintain safe systems and levels of infection prevention and control to prevent outbreaks of infections
  • plan and deliver a programme of infection prevention and control (IPC) audits with regulated nursing care providers to Infection Prevention Society standards
  • support social care providers to maintain safe systems and levels of IPC to prevent outbreaks of infections
• develop and promote national and local infection prevention campaigns for health and social care providers and education settings
  • to plan, inform and send out key IPC messages
• question national guidance and local stakeholders to ensure consistency and compliance is maintained
• support local health care commissioners with their post infection reviews
• manage, monitor, analyse, review, and evaluate the delivery of the annual programme to ensure completion within agreed timescales and specific quality measures
  • analyse surveillance data, identify risks, and improve standards of infection prevention across the county
  • produce a quarterly county wide report

The team email account is the conduit for receiving generic emails. This email account is checked regularly between 8am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

The IPC Tech Support team also have a team email account.

The Infection Prevention Control Team does not provide:

• free training to individual providers unless this was a request from a multi-agency professional meeting
• development of individual provider policies*
• support for outbreaks of communicable diseases (this is the remit of UKHSA)
• repeat audits following change in management unless this was a request from a multi-agency professional meeting

*The IPC team is developing generic IPC policies, and these will be available as a resource on the webpage.

To measure their success, the IPC team produce an annual delivery plan. This considers the essential work required to meet their obligations under the MOU and their priorities for the forthcoming year such as additional, ad-hoc, specific campaigns and topics.

The effectiveness of the team is measured by auditing the large quantity of contacts (email, telephone calls), referrals, audits, training sessions, risk assessments and reports the team produce.

The quality of the team is measured by general feedback including the analysis of training events and forums; and the number of complaints, compliments, concerns, and comments the team receives.

The team have developed key performance indicators including the number of:

• Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia panels attended
• NHS Trusts IPCC attended
• NHSE HCAI Collaborative attended
• reports written including the quarterly Lancashire wide report and local health commissioners' reports
• training sessions delivered
• Social Care IPC Forums held
• referrals received for specialist IPC support
• audits of health and social care settings
• audits of educational settings
• hand hygiene awareness sessions delivered to education and care settings
• care and education settings supported during outbreaks
• risk assessments undertaken
• Tweets and Twitter followers

The IPC team receive many requests from agencies asking for support related to care homes, GP practices and other providers.

When a contact is made the IPC team will forward a referral form asking for the completed form to be returned to the team email box. All referrals are considered to determine whether they warrant a visit, audit, or to provide advice. The outcome of the decision is fed back to the referrer.

The provider is then contacted, explaining the referral and, if appropriate, an appointment will be made to visit.

An audit is performed by a IPN or IPP using the national Quality Improvement Tool developed by the Infection Prevention Society as a template.

The Care Home audit report is written by the IPN/IPP highlighting areas of non-compliance. This is emailed out to the Care Home within 10 working days of the visit. The Care Home are expected to use the report to develop an action plan and return this to the team within 10 working days.

If necessary, the home is referred to the Radar group who may decide whether to further refer for Quality Performance and Improvement Planning (QPIP).

The Action Plan is monitored by

• IPNs if no referral to Radar required
• Radar
• Chair of the QPIP if appropriate

The IPNs and IPPs develop and coordinate meetings for care providers. The meetings are held within each locality every quarter.

The sessions are planned, written, and delivered by the IPNs and IPPs. All the IPNs and IPPs are expected to contribute to the development of the sessions to ensure that the content of the presentations is consistent, and the same messages are delivered. Topics are decided based on feedback or are topical, specific to times of the year.

The sessions are evaluated to ensure that they are effective and meeting the needs of the care homes. Attendees receive a certificate of attendance.

The IPNs support care homes in the management of an outbreak. Notification is usually received from UKHSA, but a care home may notify the IPC team first.

Most of these outbreaks are due to suspected or confirmed COVID-19 or norovirus. All outbreaks and incidents are entered onto the Dynamics system. These homes are risk assessed and contacted as frequently as required to ensure they are managing the outbreak, and that IPC standards are being maintained. Dynamics is then updated to reflect the current position. Regular updates of all outbreaks are emailed to our health and social care partners by the IP Technical Support.

Other outbreaks of infections are notified using the same route. UKHSA will lead on outbreaks of communicable diseases rather than HCAI's; these will include, but not limited to influenza, scabies, tuberculosis, and multi-drug resistant organisms. The same level of support would be offered to the settings. NHS trusts are advised around admissions to those homes.

The IPNs may be involved and support outbreak meetings at local NHS Trusts when they are managing an incident.