FACI LIT I E S MANAGEMENT
this to transform our approach to infection prevention. Patients now feel empowered to challenge if someone isn’t living up to the cleanliness standards they expect. If a member of staff isn’t washing their hands or wearing a face mask, we find that patients will call it out and ask them to do something differently. Patients and service users have an
important role to play in successful HCAI prevention work and should be considered as important stakeholders in strategy design. However, there are some challenges to involving service users: organisational readiness to include patients in co-design and the attitudes of staff when allocating responsibility of preventing HCAIs to the patient or service user. Now is an opportune time to enhance the role of patients and cleaning service role in preventing HCAIs and organisations should consider how they achieve this moving forward, as we learn to live with COVID-19 as a part of everyday life. Research has shown that a high-ranking patient fear is acquiring an infection. It is clear we want to feel safe when we are at our most vulnerable, and our environment plays a massive part in this. Patients are now much more aware of their surroundings and how they are being managed. In our hospitals communications boards tell patients what activities they will see and how spaces will be kept clean and safe for them. For example, it will say that they might not see the team cleaning in the daytime because this is completed out of hours. Working in infection prevention, part of my role is to help service users, patients, and their families to know what we’re doing, why we are doing it, and how it is keeping them safe. By communicating effectively and informing people about cleaning and the controls that are in place, we can empower people to be part of how we break the chain of infection.
If people understand the reasons behind what we’re asking them to do, we are able to
improve that experience for them, and help them see that we just want to keep everyone safe. Making sure that you are thinking about these things as part of your infection prevention strategy can be transformational.
Conclusion
When considering collaborations, NHS Trusts need to work with partners who place infection prevention and control high on their agenda to lead the way in reducing avoidable infections.
A consistent approach by all members of the team should produce demonstrable improvements in patient experience and morbidity and mortality measures. Those consistent approaches should naturally flow through into auditing styles to ensure a consistent method of providing assurance to hospital boards and patients alike, encouraging positive feedback mechanisms and empowering cleaning teams to deliver an excellent standard every day. It is important that we create infection prevention strategies and policies to deal with COVID-19 as a continuum and not as
All healthcare organisations must now begin the transition to the new standards and their service delivery must align with the new risk categories, elements, and frequencies in order to meet the requirements of the new National Standards. This is not a one-person action but must be conducted in collaboration with all parties involved in the delivery of any service, with infection prevention as a key focus within the team.
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an isolated incident. We must make sure that managing this becomes integrated with how we control all pathogens, becoming part of our standard operating procedures and a measure that we consistently report on. At Sodexo, we are taking learnings from COVID-19 and applying these to how we deal with other superbugs – so, as we develop our infection prevention processes and technologies, alongside implementation of the new National Standards, we will continually evolve how we keep healthcare spaces clean and safe.
CSJ
About the author
Yvonne Spencer is currently the clinical lead (integrated facilities management), healthcare at Sodexo UK and Ireland. Previously a ward manager at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Yvonne has 20 years’ experience in nursing. Infection prevention is a key component of her role and includes collaboration with facilities teams across both NHS and private healthcare organisations to implement strategies to improve frontline employees’ knowledge of infection prevention principles.
DECEMBER 2021
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