Agenda item

Erville Millar, Chief Executive and Donna Eldridge, Assistant Director of Nursing/Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC) will be in attendance for this item.

(Erville Millar, Chief Executive and Donna Eldridge, Assistant Director of Nursing/Director of Infection and Prevention Control were in attendance for this item)

(1)       Mr Millar informed the Committee that Donna Eldridge’s role as Assistant Director of Nursing/Director of Infection and Prevention Control was a recent appointment to the Trust in the last year.

(2)       In response to a question raised by a Member regarding the Annual Health Check results for 2007-08 Mr Millar explained that the Trust had ‘not met’ the standards for infection control because the Board did not begin receiving regular reports on the issue until August of that year and so were not compliant for the full year.  Reports had been received by the Board prior to this, but not in the proper form.

(3)       Ms Eldridge explained how a process was triggered around infection control, if a patient presented with diarrhoea and sickness.  The assumption was always made that this was Norovirus and dealt with accordingly unless and until tests showed otherwise.  A deep clean takes place 48 hours after the last symptom has presented itself.  No cases of MRSA has been caused by the Trust but some patients colonised with MRSA had been transferred in.  No cases of MRSA bacteraemia had even been transferred in either.

(3)       In answer to a question from a Member about the process for reporting incidents to the Board, the response was it was a responsibility of the ward matron to report either in person or e-mail to the Infections Prevention and Control Team who would also report to the Board.  Mr Millar added that when the Board received a report they would follow up the incident. 

(4)       In answer to a question about an incident which had occurred in one of the Trust’s establishments in Thanet where an outbreak of infection had occurred, the answer was that there were always meetings to discuss with staff an outbreak of infection when it occurred.  What had happened in this case in Thanet was not that the member of staff was refusing to wipe down an area, but a case of not having sufficient knowledge about what should be wiped down and how.

(5)       Ms Eldridge displayed to the Committee a check list which all staff worked to regarding infection control.  The Trust worked closely with the Primary Care Trusts, (the Commissioners) and Acute Hospital Trusts on infection control issues. 

(6)       Asked the question of how people’s attention were focussed on infection control when the primary need for a patient for the Trust was mental health, the Trust representatives acknowledged that was extremely difficult especially in dealing with older adults who were suffering from Dementia. However, the Committee were advised that frontline staff were all trained in hand hygiene. 

(7)       In answer to a question about whether the Trust employed agency staff, the answer was that the Trust did not tend to, and if they did require any such staff they were NHS Professionals which is an NHS agency that trains staff on infection control.

(8)       Turning to another case study contained within the papers which had been presented to the Committee was a case of a patient who was infected with HIV who had a sexual relationship with another patient.  A Member asking the initial question about this incident was concerned that other patients were unaware that this person was HIV positive because of issues of confidentiality and for this reason needed to be monitored.  The member was concerned that the Trust could be open to criticism.

(9)       There followed a lengthy debate on this one particular case, but within the current legislative framework, the Trust had dealt with the incident appropriately.

(10)     Asked how long it took between a sample being taken from a patient and the results being known, the response was that in instances of vomiting and diarrhoea, the results would be returned from the laboratory within 48 hours.

(11)     Asked about the reporting process for infection control, the response was that it was down to the modern matrons, and if there was a need for onward reporting to the Infection Control Team and ultimately to the Trust Board. 

(12)     In answer to a question about training for nurses, the Trust responded that they worked closely with the universities and they spoke about the importance of their ‘bare below the elbow’ policy, and keeping uniforms pristine clean.  They totally agreed with the Member asking the question, but it was also about appropriate lifestyles and standards in terms of hygiene. 

(13)     Referring to two other cases in the pack that Members had before them, the Trust responded by explaining the standard procedure when an incident occurred and the extra measures that had been taken. 

(14)     Asked about the length of stay and the correlation with MRSA, the Trust responded that it did not keep those statistics.