Infection prevention, it's everyone's responsibility
“We ask visitors to use the alcohol and hand gel. This is at the entrance of all the wards and should be applied every time you enter. By making sure that everyone adheres to these procedures, we can ensure we maintain our excellent standards and reduce risk of cross-infection."
Mandy Bailey
Chief Nurse
UHSM asks visitors to:- Not come to hospital to visit a patient if you are ill
- Wash your hands everytime you enter or leave a ward
- Not eat at the bedside whilst visiting patients
- Not sit on the bed
Helping reduce the risk of infection in the hospital environment is everyone's responsibility. Germs can be brought into wards and units by anyone and they can be spread to other people. UHSM takes the prevention and control of infection very seriously and it has a dedicated infection control team, which is taking a proactive approach to prevent the micro-organisms that cause infections becoming established in the hospital.
The team works closely with staff to help advise where and how people with specific infections should be cared for, depending on the type of germ or infection concerned. All staff recieve regular training and are kept up-to-date with how to protect the people who use our services, visitors and themselves.
Our staff take infections seriously and are committed to keeping our service users as safe and healthy as possible. We understand that patients are concerned about hospital aquired infections such as MRSA and Clostrdium difficile (C.diff) when they are admitted.
UHSM has undertaken a large-scale campaign to raise awareness of Infection Prevention. Posters have been placed across the hospital (as pictured above) featuring members of staff from surgeons to management to cleaners, communicating positive messages about good practice at UHSM and stressing the importance of good practice.
The posters accompany a staff campaign, which involves the use of screensavers and pop-up messages on staff computers which refresh on a daily basis. These include an MRSA case count, and regularly updated messages about the fact that infection prevention is everyone's responsibility.
UHSM also recently organised a 'Great Hospital Handwash' to raise awareness of good hand washing techniques - coverage of the event can be viewed here.