Infection Prevention and Control Newsletter for Care Homes Newsletter Date April 2018

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1 c Infection Prevention and Control Newsletter for Care Homes Newsletter Date April Boroughs Infection Prevention and Control Team 1. Influenza The team has been very busy this season dealing with several flu outbreaks reported in our care homes across the Three Boroughs. See below for the numbers of care homes which were affected. * Halton - 1 care home * St Helens 9 care homes * Warrington 8 care homes Why did we get so many outbreaks this Year? Possible Reasons :- * Very few staff vaccinated * Vulnerable residents * The flu vaccine wasn't as effective in the over 65 years old. The trivalent flu vaccine targets two influenza A strains and one influenza B strain: however this season we have seen more than one strain of Influenza B. Lessons learnt :- * The Flu plan had been sent out prior to the season for all residents names, medical history, renal function and if they had received the flu vaccine. Few Care homes had completed this which led to problems for the GP who were prescribing the prophylaxis and for Public Health England. * Many staff off sick who had to care for residents with Influenza with no protection Contents * 1.Flu * 2.SaveLives: clean your hands campaign * 3.Tools of the Trade: Be glove aware * 4.Catheter Passports * Different GP s prescribing the Tamiflu, some not completed in a timely manner * Little Information available when ICN s have called the homes fo update * Infection Control Precautions not always implemented timely What went well this year:- * Most residents had received the flu vaccine * Flu swabs taken in a timely manner by the ICN s * Care Homes managed to stay closed to admissions * Close liaison with the Care Homes, ICN.s and Public Health England * 5.To Dip or not to dip project * 6.Change to Infection Control Audits

2 Page 2 2. Save Lives : clean your hands campaign Each year around the 5th May the World Hand Health Organisation Save Lives: Clean your hands campaign aims to maintain a global profile on the importance of hand hygiene in health care and to bring people together in support of hand hygiene improvement globally. Hand hygiene is at the core of effective Infection Control Precautions and campaigning each year is one important part of im- proving behav- iour towards best practice. 3. Tools of the Trade: Be glove aware Over or under use of gloves can put you and your clients at risk of infection Types of gloves fall into two main categories-examination and protective. It s therefore crucial to carry out a risk assessment to decide whether, and which type of gloves to wear. To coincide with World Hand Hygiene Day on 5 May, we re hosting Glove Awareness week from 30 April to raise awareness of skin health and appropriate glove use by care staff. Approximately one in five nurses develop hand dermatitis a painful, debilitating condition which may require nursing staff to be moved out of clinical areas due to the risk of infection from damaged skin.

3 Issue 5 Page 3 Prevention and management of occupational dermatitis Always follow good hand hygiene techniques. Remember wearing gloves is not an alternative to hand hygiene. Avoid direct contact between unprotected hands and hazardous substances and/or wet work* where this is sensible and practical. Protect the skin if you cannot avoid contact and regularly apply hand moisturisers. Check skin regularly for the first signs of itchy, dry or red skin and use hand moisturisers. 4. Catheter Passports The Urinary Catheter Passport has been developed to ensure catheterised service users receive the optimum standard of care by improving communication between hospital, community and the service user. The Passport should be issued to service users after insertion of a urinary catheter. Please ensure all your clients who have a catheter, also have a passport.

4 5. To Dip or Not to Dip project. This is an evidence based systematic approach to improve the diagnosis and management of UTIs in care home residents over 65 years. Training has commenced in St Helens and the project will be going live on 7th May Training in Warrington will be in May, with a go live date of 1st June 2018 Key points to note:- The most common cause of E-coli bacteraemia is Urinary tract Infection as you can see from the chart below.

5 Hydration Charts, to monitor the colour of urine for dehydration An example of the assessment To dip or not to dip form Remember to keep all clients hydrated. See below examples of Top Ten hydrating Fruits 6. Changes to the Infection Control Audit The team have updated the Infection Prevention and Control audit tools. There is now separate audit tools for nursing and residential homes. We have added two new sections to the audit which include outbreak management and hydration. The hydration section will link in with the new project of to dip or not to dip. The audit tools can be accessed on our website. All homes will be visited by a member of the team to complete the annual audit throughout the year.

6 IDEAS TO PROMOTE INFECTION CONTROL IN YOUR ORGANISATION 2018 Campaign Photo Board Use this close to May 5th 2018 and post on social media and to our website We look forward to seeing them all Signature for 2018 Campaign Its in your hands prevent sepsis in health care -hands/en/ Create a frame for your photographs by cutting out the white area of the selfie board. Use the photos locally to promote glove awareness week or share them to our website.

7 3 Boroughs Public Health Infection Prevention and Control Team New Link Nurse meeting dates and Venues for 2018 Do you have any members of your team who have an interest in Infection Prevention and Control? Are they committed to making improvements in infection prevention and control standards in your care home? If so please come along to one of our Care home infection control link meetings.. Next ones: Care Home Link Nurse Meetings 2018 Halton Runcorn Town Hall,Heath Road, Runcorn, WA7 5TD Tuesday 5 th June pm Civic Suite Tuesday 25 th September pm Council chamber Tuesday 4 th December pm Civic Suite St Helens Room 10 St Helens Town Hall, Victoria Square, Saint Helens WA10 1HF (Birchley Street Car Park is the closest) Thursday 21 st June pm Room 10 Thursday 20 th September pm Room 10 Thursday 6th December pm Room 10 Warrington St. Rocco s Lockton lane, Bewsey, Warrington WA5 0BW Wednesday 20 th June pm Wednesday 19 th September pm Wednesday 19 th December pm