Over the past two months, we have been raising awareness of the importance of infection prevention and control in nursing homes.
Good infection prevention and control practices and antimicrobial stewardship are essential in all health and social care settings to prevent healthcare-associated infections and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.
In May and June, Bríd McGoldrick, our National Operations Manager for the Thematic Programme of Regulation, and Inspector Yvonne O’Loughlin, attended a number of HSE conferences for infection prevention and control link practitioners working in nursing homes.
Bríd and Yvonne presented to attendees on the requirements of Regulation 27: Infection Prevention and Control and the National Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Community Services.
They outlined how we assess infection prevention and control on inspection, and how our assessment-judgment framework can support services to achieve regulatory compliance.
They shared some findings from recent inspections, highlighting examples of good practice and areas requiring improvement.
Last year, we reported that areas of good practice in infection prevention and control (IPC) noted during 2022 inspections included:
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- Strengthened governance
- Appointment of infection control leads, and established links with public health
- Outbreak management and reporting
- Promotion of vaccine uptake
- Implementation of IPC guidance and mandatory training for staff.
The presentations also focused on the link between the regulations and the National Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Community Services, and the supports that are available, including an online learning course, to support compliance.
Read the national standards here.
Learn more about how we inspect infection control in nursing homes in our assessment-judgment framework document here.
If you have any queries about infection prevention and control in nursing homes, you can email us at dcipcsupport@hiqa.ie.