All news
Care Quality Commission enforces infection control guidelines from April 2010
March 26, 2010
Infection control is essential to ensure quality patient care. From April 1 2010, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) requires all NHS trusts to register with the commission and demonstrate they meet high standards of quality and safety. The set of requirements reflect those issued in the Health and Social Care Act published by the Department of Health in 2008.
The Code of Practice issued by the CQC sets out stringent criterion for the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections. It requires healthcare providers to implement and report on ten different guidelines for the management of infection control.
These include the prevention and control of infection, maintaining a clean environment, identifying patients at risk of infection and ensuring that staff are fully involved in the process.
Failure to adhere to these requirements can lead to trusts facing fines or prosecution under the new enforcement powers attributed to the CQC. Regular monitoring will be undertaken to ensure that trusts have measures in place to implement the guidelines.
To support the delivery of quality healthcare, there needs to be a clear system in place to record and report adherence. Autonomy over data and the ability to 'self-audit' are seen as key to ensuring best practice in patient care. The Saving Lives programme designed by the Department of Health creates a framework to support healthcare professionals in providing reliable and safe care.
The use of a ward management dashboard such as the Saving Lives Assessment tool developed by Tortrix, offers an easy to use software solution. The application incorporates the guidelines for infection control set out in the Saving Lives delivery programme. It enables staff to input their own data on patient observations, and generate graphs and reports for review. This creates an effective way of monitoring adherence to these guidelines and managing staff performance.
The use of software solutions in meeting the CQC's requirements is a cost-effective and efficient means of following guidelines and reaching government targets. It allows staff to reinforce procedures for infection control, and identify progress made. It is an essential tool in helping NHS trusts provide the best in patient care.
Tortrix works closely with the NHS to provide cost-effective software solutions that enable trusts to provide high quality and safe patient services.
