What is Infection Prevention and Control?

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust has a dedicated award winning Infection Prevention & Control Team made up of Clinical Specialists and Surveillance staff who act to prevent, identify and manage infection to protect patients, public and staff from harm.

Infection prevention and control

The team work very hard to educate staff and members of the public about the importance of maintaining good respiratory and hand hygiene.

It is important that you as a visitor, patient or relative are aware that you too can make a difference to levels of infection within the hospital environment.  Infection prevention and control is not just the responsibility of the staff that are employed within the hospital, it is everyone's business.

Full steam ahead for new deep clean bed system

A new pilot is being run currently at Queen Alexandra Hospital where beds are being thoroughly steam cleaned in a bid to reduce hospital infections.

Currently over 100 beds are cleaned each day by a low pressure steam machine. Already we are seeing positive results, and it is hoped that this scheme will be rolled out across the whole of the hospital on a permanent basis.

How do we know it is working?

The beds are tested with a swab machine which measures the amount of dirt on a bed – this is often invisible to the naked eye. When beds come to us the swab results are usually around 200, however they are only allowed to leave the ward if the sample reads 30 or less (a grade recognised as a catering standard). The bed is then returned back to the original ward for use by the next patient.

While our infection rates have remained low in 2011/12, we strive to be the best hospital and provide the best care for our patients so we can continue to reduce hospital infections to boost patient and staff satisfaction. Last year alone MRSA infections were down to only five, and we ended the financial year 14% below our Cdiff target. The new deep clean steam machine will hopefully help us to achieve this.