A comparison of the nationally important infection prevention and control documents in NHS England and NHS Scotland

Evonne T. Curran (Lead / Corresponding author), Emma Burnett, Jude Robinson, Heather Loveday

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)
    139 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Background: The devolution of health to Scotland in 1999, led for the first time in the NHS, to different priorities and success indicators for infection prevention and control (IPC). This project sought to understand, compare and evaluate the national IPC priorities and available indicators of success.

    Aim: To identify the national IPC priorities alongside national indicators of success.

    Methods: Critical analysis of nationally produced documents and publicly available infection-related data up to March 2018.

    Findings: For both NHS Scotland and England the local and national IPC priorities are evidenced by: (1) people being cared for in an IPC-safe environment; (2) staff following IPC-safe procedures; and (3) organisations continuously striving not just to attain standards, but to improve on them. If national agencies that produce data were also charged with using a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) model, then there would be further opportunities to detect and improve on successes.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)75-82
    Number of pages8
    JournalJournal of Infection Prevention
    Volume22
    Issue number2
    Early online date23 Nov 2020
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Mar 2021

    Keywords

    • infection control
    • National priority
    • quality improvement

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Health Policy
    • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
    • Advanced and Specialised Nursing
    • Infectious Diseases

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