AHCP's Penny Harrison reports...
The last ever Association of Domestic Management / first ever Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals, (ADM in its new guise) Conference & Exhibition took place in Blackpool last month. Sessions were based around the three key themes of Modernisation, Innovation and Inspiration. The outcomes of these sessions will be published shortly and developed at the NHS Confederation Conference which is being held from 20th - 22nd June.
Many members and other colleagues who were at Conference have been delighted to learn that University College Hospital London's environmental research unit is interested in developing ongoing work on C.Difficile with the AHCP as a channel for education, whereby once data is published, regional workshops could be arranged to brief members on what the data means and how it can be used practically to improve hygiene and infection prevention and control standards in their own areas.
It is felt to be in the best interests of AHCP to report 'approved' guidance supported by Department of Health / National Patient Safety Agency, rather than individual and potentially controversial reports. This will keep the science, guidance and commercial interests aligned and authority of AHCP intact.
In another project, AHCP has helped the Department of Health with an important study by providing 'cleaning professionals' to help support fact-finding visits to eight randomly-chosen trusts, to look at how trusts deal with C.difficile. The visits were in Luton & Dunstable, Doncaster & Bassetlaw, Gloucester, Kettering, Royal Devon & Exeter, Chesterfield, Derby and Southport & Ormskirk Trusts.
Health Service colleagues will appreciate being able to access these two links...
Colour Coding Posters - www.npsa.nhs.uk/health/display?contentId=5491
NPSA cleaning specification and associated documents - www.npsa.nhs.uk/health/currentprojects/nutrition/cleaning
And finally! Look out for AHCP at the NHS Confederation Conference 'Serving patients and the community' 20th-22nd June 2007 - ExCeL, London' - www.nhsconfed.org/about/about-1979.cfm