DECONTAMINATION
Meeting demand for compliance training
Ensuring compliance with best practice in decontamination is a top priority for healthcare providers and patient safety is paramount. However, as limited budgets for training have proven to be a challenge for many Trusts, areas of non-compliance can begin to emerge. iM Med is offering training services to support Trusts to drive improvement, reduce downtime and ensure compliance.
Decontamination teams often have to rely on in-house training between colleagues, but the quality of this training can be variable – gaps in knowledge, misinterpretation of guidelines and deviations can be perpetuated and cascaded from one individual to another, leading to divergence from best practice within a department over time. An outside perspective to evaluate the practice of operators within the department and identify areas for refresher training can prove invaluable – bringing processes back into compliance with national guidelines. This is where partnerships can add value and guide Trusts with their improvement goals. Established in 2016 to provide decontamination solutions for Trusts, iM Med combines the provision of the Steelco range of decontamination equipment, disinfection chemicals, consumables and service support for hospitals. The complete solution spans four business divisions: iM Technical, iM Consumables, iM Equipment and iM Compliance. The company’s clinical director, Gillian Hill, explains that the latter was established in response to an identified need to support hospitals with the audit of best practice, technical advice, tailored training programmes and provision of free education opportunities, with a view to driving quality improvement.
“I previously worked within the NHS as
an infection control matron for 14 years, before joining iM Med. During that time, the brands I remained loyal to were those that put an emphasis on training and supporting NHS staff with advice,” Gillian comments. “It is crucial that this runs through the core of a supplier – we firmly believe that the approach should not be about selling a metal box, then walking away; we sell a relationship rather than just equipment. Trusts enter into an eight-year relationship and we become their virtual department to support them.”
The iM Compliance department helps hospitals to meet the demands of the
These are busy departments under pressure to quickly turnround and deliver devices to clinical staff, but they cannot compromise on safety. Understanding how to best balance efficiency with safety is crucial.
OCTOBER 2020
CQC, the Health Act, JAG and, crucially, with ensuring patient safety. This includes interpretation of weekly, quarterly and annual reports and assistance with corrective and/or preventative actions following out of specification results. If the Trust’s machines have been out of use or consistently returning out of specification testing results, specialist engineers will carry out a full machine health check to diagnose the root cause and correct the issue.
The approach is to provide a planned, preventative maintenance strategy to reduce unplanned downtime. Key performance indicator reporting is provided for all sites and meetings are held with Trusts to discuss any key themes and trends, as well as response times (iM Med guarantees same day/next day responses). When these health checks are dovetailed with training, operator errors that result in breakdowns are significantly reduced. “It is important that Trusts feel they can call on somebody to support them, who shares their passion for patient safety. This may include the provision of technical advice
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