Infection control statement 2026 (PDF).
Purpose
This annual statement will be generated each year in May 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 incident and any action taken (these will have been reported in accordance with our significant events procedure).
- Details of any infection control audits undertaken for the prevention and control of infection
- Details of any risk assessments undertaken for the prevention and control of infection.
- Details of staff training
- Any review and update of policies, procedure and guidelines
Infection prevention and control (IPC) lead
The lead for infection prevention and control at Linden Medical Group is Mandy Parker, IPC Lead.
The IPC lead is supported by Alison Moxey, nurse manager.
Infection transmission incidents (significant’ events)
Significant events involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events.
Positive events are discussed at meetings to allow all staff to be appraised of areas of best practice.
Negative events are managed by the staff member who either identified or was advised of any potential shortcoming. This person will complete a Significant Event Analysis (SEA) form that commences an investigation process to establish what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements.
All significant events are reviewed and discussed at several meetings each month. Any learning points are cascaded to all relevant staff where an action plan, including audits or policy review, may follow.
In the past year there have been 0 significant events raised that related to infection control. There have also been 0 complaints made regarding cleanliness or infection control.
Infection prevention audit and actions
There have been no CQC inspections in the last year for any actions to be raised.
There have been no external IPC inspections in the last year for any actions to be raised.
Internal audits
- Weekly clinical room cleans
- Quarterly infection prevention control audits annual hand washing audit
- Minor operation – Post injection infection audits
- Environmental audits – Health and safety, fire risk and adhoc infection control
Risk assessments and Audits
In the last year, the following risk assessments and/or audits were carried out/reviewed
- General IPC risks -covered in the 6 monthly audits
- Staffing, induction training and ongoing training as detailed below
- COSHH updates
- Cleaning standards – weekly clinical room cleans, spot checking undertaken and annual risk assessments
- Privacy curtains changes at regular intervals sooner if soiled
- Sharps and clinical waste – audits completed annually and reported to waste contractor
- Water safety – Monthly internal legionella checks, 6 monthly thermostatic mixing valve testing, annual water sampling and 2 yearly externa, risk assessment
- Annual hand hygiene audit
- Minor operations – Post injection infections audits
- The practice does not keep toys at either site.
- Other risk assessments carried out include:
- Staffing, new joiners and ongoing traning
- Staff vaccinations
- Infrastructure changes
- Assistant dogs
Training
In addition to staff being involved in risk assessments, significant events and audits, at Linden Medical Group all staff and contractors receive IPC induction training on commencing their post. Thereafter, all staff receive refresher training annually, either via online training or an in-person training event with and IPC professional.
Various elements of IPC training in the previous year have been delivered, via on line training, from the HUB and eLFh, along with the in-house PLT sessions via the Local Training Hub.
Policies and procedures
The infection prevention and control related policies and procedures that have been written, updated or reviewed in the last year.
Policies relating to infection prevention and control are available to all staff and are reviewed and updated annually. Additionally, all policies are amended on an ongoing basis as per current advice, guidance and legislation changes.
Responsibility
It is the responsibility of all staff members at Linden Medical Group to be familiar with this statement and their roles and responsibilities under it.
Review
The IPC lead and Dr Nick Waters are responsible ·for reviewing and producing the annual statement.
This annual statement will be updated on or before the 25th May 2027.
Signed by:
Mandy Parker
Linden Medical Group