Preventing Infection at Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Staff at Queen Elizabeth Hospital take the prevention and control of infection very seriously.
We work together with clinical staff, managers and support staff to develop and maintain the prevention, surveillance, investigation and monitoring of infection within the hospital and those services for which there is a service level agreement.
All NHS organisations must ensure that they have effective systems in place to control healthcare associated infection and we are committed to ensuring resources are allocated to effectively protect patients, their relatives, staff and visiting members of the public.
Over the past few years the hospital has adopted a range of proactive measures to prevent healthcare-associated infection. These measures include:
- Adopting the National Patient Safety Agency, "cleanyourhands" Campaign to improve hand hygiene practice.
- Ensuring alcohol hand gel dispensers are available at the point of care across the Trust for use by all staff providing care.
- Providing training in infection prevention and hand hygiene at induction for all new staff, and ensuring staff attend annual refresher training on infection prevention and hand hygiene.
- Participation in the National Patient Safety Agency "Matching Michigan" project, to protect patients in intensive care from the risk of infections due to intravenous drips.
- Improving cleanliness standards across the trust: our hospital was rated "good" in the 2010 PEAT inspection programme.
- Continuing to reduce the numbers of MRSA bloodstream infections and Clostridium difficile diarrhoea year-on-year.