01423 557340

Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG

“NEW Devon CCG signpost to IPC resource site."

Home > Case studies > Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG

quotation marks

NEW Devon CCG signpost to IPC resource site

Andrew Kingsley,Lead Nurse Healthcare-Associated Infections

NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group

Background

Within the world of Health and Social Care, general Practices, Care Homes and Care Agencies are commonly trading as Independent Contractors.  All NHS organisations and Independent Contractors providing services in the system must comply with the Health and Social Care Act 2008: Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and regulated guidance (Department of Health, July 2015) [known as The Hygiene Code].  Compliance is monitored by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) through their inspection regime.

Unless specialist infection prevention and control (IP&C) services are specifically commissioned for Independent Contractors by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) from local NHS providers, Independent Contractors will have a need to either develop their own internal experts or procure training and from time to time IP&C expertise from reliable sources to ensure they meet the elements of the Hygiene Code.

Solution

In-house or individually contracted local IP&C services are likely to represent a costly overhead for small Independent Contractors.  One potential solution is to source materials on line to support staff from training to key audits and much more. The NEW Devon CCG signpost to Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust’s Infection Prevention and Control site via its webpages www.newdevonccg.nhs.uk/information-for-patients/medicines-and-treatments/infection-control-and-tissue-viability/101393 The site is designed by NHS IP&C specialists to provide a range of resources needed by Independent Contractors some of which are free to download and others for purchase.

Outcome

Whilst NEW Devon CCG do not provide IP&C services to Independent Contractors we are committed to helping them to help themselves provide clean safe care.  This website does just that and to date a number of organisations have used the link on our CCG webpages to ‘click through’ to see what is available. The Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust’s Infection Prevention and Control site is one of a range of links to valuable sites, organisations and national guidelines, policies and briefing documents that Independent Contractors can use to meet their CQC registration requirements.