Education
The importance of education in sterile services
The Institute of Decontamination Sciences’ annual scientific conference took place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, bringing together decontamination scientists and experts from across the UK. IDSc Chair, Trevor Garcia, emphasised the vital need for education for the decontamination sector and the importance of attending events such as the annual conference.
Continuous professional development to ensure competency has been identified as an essential requirement for the decontamination sector, in the wake of the findings of the HSSIB report on a serious failure in decontamination. With this in mind, the IDSc was instrumental in the development and introduction of NHS Estates Technical Bulletin NETB/2024/1 version 2.0 – documenting the competency framework for staff working in decontamination. This document is to be read inconjunction with the Health Technical Memorandum 01-01 series and its contents must be implemented in the same way. The objective of the NETB is to:
1. Outline the knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviours required by staff working in decontamination units to ensure the highest standards of decontamination are achieved; and 2. To give general recommendations for improving board-level commitment and oversight of decontamination quality.
Since the findings of the original HSSIB investigation, the IDSc has been busy developing
professional, levelled qualifications to support efforts to raise standards in training and competency. This is in additional to the educational conference programme, organised on an annual basis, which provides expert insights into current challenges, best practice, regulations and legislation, as well as innovation. Sadly, the decontamination sector has
recently lost some high profile and well- respected individuals who were well known for their contributions to promoting learning, and professionalism within the sector. IDSc’s Chair, Trevor Garcia paid tribute to
Graham Stanton, Wayne Spencer, John Harrison, and Gillian Sills – who all made their mark on the world of decontamination with a shared passion for raising standards. Each of these individuals left behind an impressive legacy, through their contributions to ensuring patient safety, and will be sadly missed. “We have lost so much experience and
knowledge,” Trevor commented. “It is a timely reminder to us, that we need to work hard to develop and encourage the new generation – we
need to ensure they are competent, that they have the skills and knowledge to take over the running of decontamination services, and that they can keep these services safe,” he continued. As part of its commitment to
providing educational opportunities within the sector, the IDSc scientific conference provided topical insights into some of the key challenges facing sterile services departments in the UK.
Instructions for use: current challenges Instructions for Use (IFUs) proved to be the subject of lively discussion at the conference. Stuart White, Decontamination Lead for East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, has over 25 years’ experience in decontamination in both the public and private sector, including with the robotics manufacturer, CMR Surgical – where he applied his expertise to ensure the company’s technology can be safely reprocessed. Stuart reviewed the current challenges facing decontamination units related to the design of medical devices and IFUs and discussed ‘risk, liability and mitigation’. He remarked that “everybody has a problem with IFUs”, but patient safety needs to be at the forefront. “Manufacturers’ IFUs tell the user what has
been validated and how they should use the device or reprocess it, to get the same results as the validation. But they also say – and this is important – if you do not follow the instructions for use, then liability passes to the user,” he explained. He considered the Spaulding Classification, ISO and the various standards relating to validation, pointing out that there are national and global standards. “In the UK, we have HTMs and in Germany
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