Purpose
This annual statement will be generated each year in June, in accordance with the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. The report will be published on the organisation’s website and will include the following summary:

• Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken (these will have been reported in accordance with our significant event procedure)
• Details of any infection control audits carried out and actions undertaken
• Details of any risk assessments undertaken for the prevention and control of infection
• Details of staff training
• Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) lead

The lead for infection prevention and control at Tavyside Health Centre is Mrs Rebecca Gokhale, Senior Practice Nurse & Prescriber.

The IPC lead is supported by Jonathan Coe, Practice Manager.

Infection transmission incidents (significant events)

Significant events involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events.

Positive events are discussed at meetings to allow all staff to be appraised in areas of best practice.

Negative events are managed by the staff member who either identified or was advised of any potential shortcoming. This person will complete a Significant Event Analysis (SEA) form which commences an investigation process to establish what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements.

All significant events are reviewed and discussed at several meetings each month. Any learning points are cascaded to all relevant staff where an action plan, including audits or policy review, may follow.

In the past year, there have been 0 significant events raised which related to infection control. There have also been 0 complaints made regarding cleanliness or infection control.

Infection prevention audit and actions

Tavyside Health Centre’s last CQC inspection was May 2018. The following areas were inspected by the CQC with the following recommendations:

Review the infection control processes to include hand hygiene audits to identify competency issues and training gaps for staff.

List all internal audits that have been conducted within the previous year. Discuss the implementation of any audit requirements or shortcomings and how staff are involved to promote high standards of IPC.

• IPC audits conducted quarterly.
• Hand hygiene audit
• Clinical waste audit
• Sharps audit
• Fabric noticeboard audit to ensure they are being kept clean and up-to-date.

The following are audits which we have scheduled for the next 12 months.

• Handwashing Audit to be done quarterly alongside the infection prevention and control audit. A training session on hand washing will also be provided in a practice half day closure.
• Clinical waste and sharps audit done quarterly alongside IPC audit.
• Privacy curtains audit to ensure they are clean and in date alongside IPC audit.
• Continuation of fabric notice board cleanliness routines.

Risk assessments

Risk assessments are carried out so that any risk is minimised and made to be as low as is reasonably practicable. Additionally, a risk assessment that can identify best practice can be established and then followed.

In the last year, the following risk assessments were carried out/reviewed:

[COMING SOON]

A suggested list, but one that is not exhaustive, could contain the following:

• General IPC risks
• Staffing, new joiners and ongoing training
• COSHH
• Cleaning standards
• Privacy curtain cleaning or changes
• Staff vaccinations
• Infrastructure changes
• Sharps
• Water safety
• Assistance dogs

In the next year, the following risk assessment will also be reviewed:

[COMING SOON]

Training

In addition to staff being involved in risk assessments and significant events, at Tavyside Health Centre all staff and contractors receive IPC induction training on commencing their post. Thereafter, all staff receive refresher training annually.

Various elements of IPC training in the previous year have been delivered at the following times: [Detail]

Policies and procedures

The infection prevention and control-related policies and procedures that have been written, updated or reviewed in the last year include, but are not limited, to: Cleaning Standards

Policies relating to infection prevention and control are available to all staff and are reviewed and updated annually. Additionally, all policies are amended on an ongoing basis as per current advice, guidance and legislation changes.

Responsibility

It is the responsibility of all staff members at Tavyside Health Centre to be familiar with this statement and their roles and responsibilities under it.

Review

The IPC lead and Jonathan Coe, Practice Manager are responsible for reviewing and producing the annual statement.

This annual statement will be updated on or before July 2025.

Signed by

Mrs Rebecca Gokhale
Senior Practice Nurse and Infection Prevention Lead

Mr Jonathan Coe
Practice Manager

For and on behalf of Tavyside Health Centre