Southgate Medical Group

Infection Control Annual Statement Purpose

The Annual Statement will be generated each year in September in accordance with the requirement of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. The report 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 undertaken and actions undertaken
• Details of any risk assessments undertaken for prevention and control of infections
• Details of any staff training
• Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines.

Infection Prevent and Control (IPC) Lead

• IPC Lead – Ayeasha Tobin
• Support – Marian Clayton Infection Transmission incidents (Significant events)

Significant events involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events and are investigated in detail to see what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements. All Significant events are reviewed monthly in the staff meetings and learning cascaded to all relevant personnel.

In the past year there has been 1 significant event raised related to a breach in the cold chain due to fridge failure and following this a new fridge was purchased. There has been 0 complaints made regarding cleanliness or infection control issues.

Infection Prevention Audit and Actions

The annual infection control audit for SMG was completed by infection prevention solutions in August 2023. As a result of the audit the following points have been changed or currently being reviewed.

• Environmental cleaning schedules need to be comprehensive and provide historic documentary evidence that all surfaces are routinely and thoroughly cleaned
• Reusable clinical equipment decontamination schedules to be comprehensive and provide documentary evidence that it is being routinely cleaned and appropriately decontaminated.
• Maintenance of walls which have been damaged need to be repaired treated and repainted
• Cleaning of chairs and furniture to be included in the cleaning schedules
• Handwashing, ensure all staff attend hand washing training and hand cream should be available in a wall or pump-operated dispenser in at least one area.
• Ensure all sharps bins are labelled with date of closure and signed when sealed/locked.
• Correct labelling of orange/yellow waste bags with numbered tags or indelible pen
• The storage of large clinical waste bins to be cleaned regularly inside and out.
• Decontamination of environment- poster/chart displayed outlining colour coding cleaning scheme in use, training for cleaning staff, cleaners trolley to be cleaned and kept tidy, daily laundering of micro fibre cloths and disposing of mop heads daily.
• Vaccine management-documented fridge cleaning schedule
• Separate maximum/minimum thermometer independent of mains power
• Written cleaning schedule for minor surgery room and wall mounted sharps bins or sharps bins to be place in a wheeled holder in minor surgery room

Risk Assessments

Risk assessments are carried out so that any risk is minimised to be as low as reasonably practical and best practice can be established and followed. The following risk assessments have been carried out.

Legionella (water) risk assessment. Monthly checks are conducted to ensure that the water supply does not pose a risk to patients, visitors or staff. Every six months water samples are sent away for comprehensive testing and every 3 years the water tank is emptied and disinfected and re-filled

Immunisations- SMG ensures that clinical staff are up to date with Hepatitis B immunisation. All staff are offered annual influenza vaccination and Covid 19 vaccinations as recommended by the UK government.

Cleaning of Premises

The surgery is cleaned by G H Cleaning Company following the end of each working day. Clinical staff are responsible for cleaning their own working areas between patient interactions and at the end of their working day. Training

All staff receive annual training in infection prevention and control. Currently we use e-learning (e-lfh.org.uk) for all staff which provides infection prevention and control courses for non-clinical and clinical staff. Annual infection control training is a mandatory requirement for all surgery staff.

All hand washing facilities have a pictorial display of correct hand washing techniques. We try and demonstrate hand washing techniques to staff annually.

Policies

All infection Prevention and Control Policies are currently being updated for this year. Policies relating to infection prevention and control are available to all staff on the intranet and are updated and amended on an on-going basis as current advice and guidance and legislation change.

Responsibility

It is the responsibility of each individual to be familiar with this statement and their role and responsibility under it.

Review Date: By 30th September 2024

The ICP Lead Ayeasha Tobin and deputy Marian Clayton are responsible for reviewing and producing the annual statement.