Getting the basics right: reflections on infection prevention and control

Infection prevention and control (IPC) has been my passion for more than 20 years now, ever since I became fascinated by an outbreak of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) within the intensive care unit at the hospital where I was a junior ward sister. It sparked an interest in IPC and led me down a new career path, and I am now a director of infection prevention and control (DIPC) in an NHS trust.

The post is a requirement under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the Prevention and Control of Infections and Related Guidance (Department of Health, 2015). As a full time DIPC who also happens to be an experienced and senior IPC specialist nurse, I am in a fairly unique position and I am proud to have been appointed. My extensive job description states that, as DIPC, I have corporate responsibility for infection prevention and control throughout the trust as delegated by the chief executive, reporting directly to the chief executive and the trust board. It's a position of significant, and sometimes overwhelming, responsibility and now that I have been in post for 2 years, this seems a good point at which to pause and reflect on what has changed in IPC since I first decided to specialise 20 years ago, and what the challenges currently are in terms of preventing and controlling healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) within the NHS today.