Infection Prevention and Control Annual Statement

Infection Control Annual Statement 

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. It summarises:  

• Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken (these will have been reported in accordance with our Significant Event procedure) 

• Details of any infection control audits undertaken and actions undertaken 

• Details of any risk assessments undertaken for prevention and control of infection  

• Details of staff training  

• Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines  

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Lead  

Mr Banach is our Infection Prevention Control lead, and this role is supported by the Nursing and Management Team.

Infection transmission incidents (Significant Events)  

There has been no identified infection transmission incidents in the past year.

Infection Prevention Audit and Actions Taken 

In the past 12 months, we have carried out the following audits: 

• Hand Hygiene – where all staff were observed and assessed washing their hands by our IPC Lead to ensure infection control protocol was followed correctly. This audit is carried out on a 6-monthly basis. 

• Annual Infection Prevention and Control audit – where an external Infection Prevention and Control Nurse carries out an in-depth audit on the practice’s compliance with infection control protocols and polices, this includes the cleanliness and decor of the buildings. This took place on 09.05.2025, where Fearnhead Cross Medical Centre scored 92% and Longford Street Surgery scored 95%. The main observations shown that the decor of the buildings needed redecorating, which is something that the Practice is currently looking into.  

• Cleaning audits – carried out on a regular basis by our cleaning contractors 

• Annual Minor Surgery  

• Annual Antibiotic Treatment  

 Risk Assessments  

• Immunisations: Practice staff giving certain immunisations need to receive annual comprehensive training and competency assessment in order that the vaccines and immunisations are administered safely and effectively, so that those who receive these vaccines are protected. 

• Cold chain: The Practice recently became a lead site for the covid vaccination service, which meant a thorough review of our cold chain procedures was carried out as part of the role of the lead site is to ensure that vaccines are ordered, stored, transported, administered and disposed of appropriately across the local Warrington area.  

• Our annual calibration and PAT testing is carried out in May. 

Training  

All staff are up to date with their Infection Prevention and Control training via BlueStream Academy. All staff must complete this training during their induction period and then receive refresher training each year. The IPC lead attends extra external training sessions in addition to this.  

 Policies  

Our Infection Prevention and Control policies are up to date and are available for staff to access easily on our practice shared drive.  

Responsibility  

It is the responsibility of each individual to be familiar with this Statement and their roles and responsibilities under this.  

Next annual statement due May 2026