Infection Control Annual Statement April 2024 – March 2025
Kings Corner Surgery
Purpose
This annual statement will be generated each year in April in accordance with the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. The report will be published on the practice website and will include the following summary:
- Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken. These will be reported in accordance with our significant events procedure.
- Details of any infection control audits undertaken, and actions undertaken.
- Details of any control risk assessments undertaken.
- Details of staff training.
- Any review and update policies, procedures and guidelines.
Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Lead
The lead for infection prevention and control at Kings Corner Surgery is Gill Mitchell (Practice Nurse).
The IPC lead is supported by Carly Morris (Operation Manager).
Audits
- An audit on minor surgery was done. It is as follows:
- 2 minor surgeries were performed. They were sent off for histology. There was no post minor surgery infection and histology result was benign.
- 19 invasive injections were given. No post injection infections were reported.
- 42 IUD were fitted. No post coil infections were reported.
- 17 implants were fitted, and no post implant infections were reported.
- 10 implant removals were done, and no infections were reported.
- Room audits are carried out bi-annually by Nurse Gill Mitchell. No major issues were noted.
- Some fabric chairs remain in all upstairs clinical rooms. However, these are stacked and not used by patients. These should be removed from surgery at our earliest convenience or store away out of clinical rooms.
- All rooms now have clinical flooring to standard.
- All clinical rooms now have clinical standard sinks with elbow taps.
- Hand washing audit is done quarterly for all staff. This is carried out by nurse Gill Mitchell, she watches all staff wash their hands. Hand washing guides are displayed above all sinks in the Practice.
- All staff washed their hands for the appropriate length of time showing all 12 steps.
- Vaccine fridge audit was carried out by Nurse Gill Mitchell. No major issues were noted.
- There were some days missing on vaccine fridge temperature check. The nursing team need to try and make sure this is done daily. Although there is an internal thermometer to help bridge the gap on any missing data.
The inadequacies that were noted are being addressed to ensure compliance. We aim to do more to share information with our patients and will therefore publish this Annual Statement on our practice website.
Needle stick injuries
No needle stick injuries have been reported this year.
Practice Cleaning
Kings Corner Surgery employs a cleaning company. Audits are carried out by the manager of this company to ensure standard of cleanliness and hygiene is maintained and if we have any concerns we log this in our cleaners log book.
The company name is called Smarter Cleaning Services.
There has been no feedback from any patients indicating any problems with the cleaning within the practice.
Staff Training
All staff undertake the appropriate level of Infection Prevention control training at induction and annually thereafter. Training records are recorded with the Operations Manager.
Covid Restrictions
There are minimal restrictions left in place.
We continue to encourage use of masks for patients entering the building with coughs or respiratory based illnesses. Likewise, we encourage clinicians reviewing these patients to wear masks when doing so.
We have a low threshold for staff sickness and staff should not be coming to practice if unwell in any way.
Staff are encouraged to test for covid if they have any covid symptoms, but we no longer are required to do biweekly routine testing.
All staff have been trained on how and when to wear their PPE correctly.
Toys, Books and Magazines
Toys, books, and magazines have not been available in the waiting room for some time now. They will not be returning.
Policies, Procedures and Guidelines
Any policies and procedures relating to infection Prevention Control are reviewed and updated annually. However, any new legislation or guidance that comes into action before a review date will be added and the review date will be changed accordingly.
Responsibility
It is the responsibility of all staff members at Kings Corner Surgery to be familiar with this statement and their roles and responsibilities under it.
Review
The IPC lead (Gill Mitchell) and Operation Manager (Carly Morris) are responsible for reviewing and producing the annual statement. This annual statement will be updated on or before April 2026.