Infection prevention and control

At the start of 22/23, the transition of Covid was underway. Our services already had robust control measures in place and all services continued to respond to changes in the transition of not only Covid but other infectious diseases. The organisation continued to have strong links with Community Control of Infection Lead (COL).

Overall, our infection rates were relatively low throughout the year. Within our 24-hour services, colleagues followed Government advice, continued to wear personal protective equipment, and maintained our increased cleaning schedule.

Control of infection and environmental audits

All 24-hour services continued to conduct control of infection audits, which were reviewed by our governance team as part of a regular monitoring process.

15 audits were conducted by COL nurses and actions for improvement in areas included hand hygiene, repairs to tiling, and cleaning of skirting boards.

Similar to the previous year, an ongoing theme in adult services was supporting service users to maintain their own environments. In addition to our rota of assisted thorough cleans, a role of cleaner/housekeeper has been introduced to help maintain high standards of cleanliness.