DAS 2024 Review


radar and are a forgotten service. Ultimately, the decontamination sector is still seen as being a “part of theatres” and is not viewed as a “distinct professional group of staff”. Job titles often vary between organisations, making it difficult to identify staff as a unified, professional group. Often, the complexity of what decontamination staff do is not fully understood and those working in SSDs are not recognised as healthcare science staff. All technicians should be referred to as ‘healthcare scientists’, she advised.


Promoting the sector She highlighted the need for SSDs to promote what they do within their organisations, and suggested holding open days to raise the profile, for example. She also encouraged delegates to work with other departments in the organisation – including working with IPC to conduct joint audits and microbiologists for advice on endoscopy. They should align with other healthcare science departments, as well as ensuring they are on the medical devices capital group. Furthermore, when making procurement


decisions, SSDs should have input on the approval of medical devices. Surgeons should be invited to the department before any issues arise and there should be cross-training of staff in theatres – including if located off site. She explained that the Institute of Decontamination Sciences has also worked hard to establish links to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England, The National School of Healthcare Science, The Academy for Healthcare Science, The Department Health Social Care Design for Life project and NHS Employers, to try and raise the sector’s profile and to ensure that “what we do is seen as an essential service on a national scale”. “We need to raise our profile. We need to be proud of what we do,” she concluded.


COMMENT with TREVOR GARCIA


Calls for recognition of SSDs’ vital role


The Institute of Decontamination Science’s National Chairman, Trevor Garcia, calls for better recognition and investment in decontamination scientists. The role of decontamination managers has changed significantly over the years. They are increasingly responsible for the decontamination process of flexible endoscopes, as well as surgical instruments, for which they provide trained and competent staff, and this change in responsibilities has had the benefit of releasing clinical staff who were undertaking this process to direct patient care. They also now provide professional advice to other areas where decontamination is undertaken, including: Radiology (TV, TR, ultrasound probes), Cardiology (TOE probes), Dental units and respiratory units – in fact, most areas of a healthcare setting. Therefore, managers now have to be experts in quality management systems, engineering, process management, risk management, national and international standards and guidance and legislation. They work as part of a multi-disciplinary team alongside infection prevention staff, microbiologists, engineers, EBME technicians and clinical teams to provide a highly technical, scientific service and professional advice. All of this is to reduce the risk of a HCAIs and improve patient safety. It is imperative that healthcare organisations recognise the importance of the decontamination team’s role in the day-to-day working of the hospital and, as part of its recognition, in 2015, this group of staff were identified as Healthcare Scientists by the then Chief Scientific Officers from all four nations. Although this has been accepted in many hospitals, it is still not accepted in all organisations, which needs to change. Training programmes have been developed through the Healthcare Science Assistant and Associate training competency-based programme. In addition, following the HSSIB report in 2022, further guidance on both the need for training, competency assessments and registration for decontamination personnel has been developed and will be published in the first half of 2024. It also addresses the need to ensure that organisations have a robust reporting and assurance structure, from the department manager to the Board executive, with decontamination in their portfolio. This was found to be varying in compliance as, in some instances, the external audits that were undertaken by MHRA-appointed Authorised Bodies (as part of the department’s certification to ISO 13485) were not escalated to the Board, which resulted in the Board not being aware of the need for investment to maintain standards in the department. Investment and professional recognition must be made in decontamination staff to enable them to carry out their roles efficiently and effectively in the following ways: l Allocate time for staff to undertake the training and various qualifications to ensure they carryout their tasks to the highest possible standard.


CSJ


l Invest in the processing equipment required to ensure the decontamination of medical devices meets best practice. Equipment that was installed over 10 years ago will be less effective, cost more to operate, and have increased downtime causing delays.


l View decontamination staff as one of the essential and valued teams vital in the care and safe treatment of the patient.


Devices have become increasing complex, while the understanding of the science supporting effective decontamination has also increased. This has resulted in an increase in guidance – from one small document (HTM10) in 1984 to separate Health Technical Memorandums (HTMs) for endoscopy and surgical instruments, running to many 100 of pages. This is in addition to numerous international standards. It is one of the professions where you do not stop learning. In fact, the more you know the more there is to know. Ultimately, part of my role as the IDSc National Chairman is to improve the links with


other professional organisations. It is essential that we work together as part of a multi- disciplinary team. This is the only way we can look at all processes and put in place best practice guidance for all clinical staff to ensure patients are kept safe at all times.


April 2024 I www.clinicalservicesjournal.com 69

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