Written-The levels of hygiene education in Welsh hospitals

 Infection control in Welsh hospitals remains one of the Welsh Assembly Government’s top priorities and we are continuing to take an evolutionary approach to the issue.

The Welsh Assembly Government does not collect data that could be described as "levels of hygiene". Specific requests should be directed to the individual trusts concerned as the need for education and training for all healthcare workers in infection control, environmental cleanliness, and all other matters relating to hygiene in hospital needs to be assessed at a local level.  However, all trusts are required to have cleaning policies and procedures in place to deal with environmental cleanliness.  Trust Infection Control teams are also required to have policies that detail local practices in relation to management of infection.

Training and education takes the form of informal ‘on the job’ training e.g. hand hygiene for all staff groups right through to more formal education such as diploma, degree and masters level courses in infection control accessible through for example the University of Glamorgan and the University of Swansea’.

The healthcare associated infection hospital strategy, which was published in September 2004, highlighted the need to develop an infection control infrastructure emphasising the responsibilities of all healthcare workers. It placed particular emphasis on training and education and on the availability of educational resources to all healthcare staff, as well as the provision of more specialist training for infection control staff.  

As part of the strategy for management of healthcare associated infection in hospitals in Wales, an e-learning tool for infection control was developed from a package already used in Scotland. The Welsh Assembly Government commissioned the National Public Health Service to manage the e-learning package, which was launched in 2006 and is available to all trusts.  

The package equips staff with the knowledge they require to understand the many complex issues around managing and preventing infection and will further equip them in recognising and addressing their personal responsibilities to their patients. To date, 9 Trusts, 2 LHB’s, the Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Welsh Ambulance Service have registered to use the package, and there are now 18 Registering Officers and 71 students. 18 students have already completed the package and 19 students are completing the last module.

Additionally, all trusts are required to ensure the competence of staff in relation to personal hygiene practices and the National Patient Safety Agency's Clean Your Hands Campaign was a centrally driven initiative in this respect.  All organisations have received a campaign toolkit which included; a series of campaign, staff champion and patient posters; tools for involving patients and staff and guides to preparation and implementation.  In year two a new series of posters were launched with an improvement maintenance handbook and hand hygiene check maps.  A tool is also available to enable the root cause of confirmed infections to be analysed. Plans are now underway to extend the campaign to primary care organisations and a series of stakeholder consultation events are taking place across England and Wales from mid January to early February.  

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) have also issued a Safer Practice Notice on Colour coding hospital cleaning materials and equipment on 10  January 2007. Most hospitals already have a colour coding scheme for cleaning materials for materials and equipment, however there is presently no consistency across the NHS.  The guidance recommends that all NHS organisations adopt a standardised colour code to improve the safety of hospital cleaning.

Free starter packs of posters and credit card-sized reference guides illustrating the national colour code will be sent to every NHS organisation in Wales and England.  Materials are available in both Welsh And English. This will simplify training for staff who move between NHS organisations.

We have also actively promoted the National Resource for Infection Control (NRIC), a UK-level project developed by healthcare professionals, which provides a single access point to existing resources within infection control for all NHS staff and contains an on-line training in infection control manual.

On the 6 and 7 March 2007, the Welsh Assembly Government will host a major conference on infection control. The Conference is primarily aimed at Trust Chief Executives and their key players in infection control. The programme will feature a number of speakers from within the health service, the Welsh Assembly Government and international experts in the field of HAI. We anticipate that the conference will provide an ideal opportunity for healthcare staff to reflect on their current infection control procedures and share good practice with colleagues.

The newly appointed non-executive directors have been invited to the conference and WAG will hold a seminar prior to the conference to provide them with background information about HAI’s and the strategies and initiatives in place to tackle them.

By learning together, we will continue to deliver solutions that will improve the care of patients through reduction in infection.