Handwashing is the single most important way to prevent the spread of infection. This Policy is one of the ‘Standard infection control precautions’ (SICPs) referred to by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
Hand hygiene has a dual role to protect both the service user and the healthcare worker from acquiring micro-organisms, e.g. bacteria and viruses, which may cause them harm. Hands may look clean but invisible micro-organisms are always present, some harmful, some not. Removal of micro-organisms is the most important factor in preventing them from being transferred to other people.
Hand hygiene education for staff to support compliance with The Health and social Care Act 2008: Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance and CQC requirements is provided in the ‘Preventing Infection Workbook: Guidance for Domiciliary Care staff’.
A downloadable Community Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Policy which can be adopted by your organisation is available below. Alternatively, a complete set of IPC Guidance documents is available to purchase @ £69.99 – details can be found on the flyer and resource order form.
Updated: 05/05/2021
