Hospital staff awarded for infection prevention and control practices
Plymouth Hospital NHS Trust Infection Prevention and Control Team (IPCT) presented a number of awards to staff across the Trust at a special study day, which took place on Monday (22 April).
Presented by Greg Dix, Director of Nursing, the awards recognised the outstanding achievements by both entire wards and individual members for innovation, promotion and sustaining excellent practice and supporting clinical teams across the hospital for infection control practices.
Winners included Shipley Ward, recognised for an outstanding approach to managing urethral catheters and Junior Sister Tracey Hambridge.
Tracey accepted an award for her efforts to tackle the use of fans on wards in clinical areas. Previously fans had to be dismantled to be effectively cleaned, but through her own investigation Tracey identified a modern fan that could provide the necessary air circulation and at the same time was easy to clean on the wards.
The study day included expert speakers and interactive sessions for staff to learn and engage with new infection control practices and information to take back to their clinical areas.
Guest speaker Simon Nobbs, Quality Manager for the Department of Microbiology said: “The value of being able to talk at this study day is twofold. Firstly, it is the Microbiology Laboratory which diagnoses infections from the samples that are submitted to the Laboratory by the ward staff, who are in turn responsible for preventing infections in their patients.
“It gives me the chance to give staff an insight into how the samples that they submit are processed and how we identify some of the commonly encountered infectious agents that cause problems on the wards.
“Secondly it gives me the opportunity to increase my awareness of the impact on the patient and ward staff that our results have.”
Cathy Ford, Senior Sister for Infection Control commented: “It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and as a team we are really pleased with the feedback from staff who found the event informative and engaging.
“Ann James, Chief Executive and Peter Jenks, Director of Infection Prevention and Control both took the time to address the delegates and both of them reiterated the important role they have within our clinical areas and show their support for the work that they do.
“I would like to thank our guest speakers for their advice and presentation of new information and practices for staff to learn and we appreciate the time and support from our supply companies who hosted exhibition stands for staff.”
Infection Control Link Practitioners are crucial throughout the hospital and the teams work hard to reduce and prevent infection by identifying risks and solutions prior to instances arising.
