Raising standards of infection prevention and control in the NHS

This debate was proposed by Jim Shannon MP at the Backbench Business Committee meeting held on Tuesday 24 April 2018. When proposing standards of infection prevention and control in the NHS as a topic for discussion, he said the following:

UK healthcare-associated infections cost lives and money. Some 300,000 healthcare-associated infections every year cost the NHS in excess of £1 billion annually… If we could encourage Government to roll out their strategy to reduce hospital infections and to publish their staff hand hygiene indicator, that would give us a methodology whereby we could do that. We look forward to the Government’s response on that.

This Debate Pack provides background information, parliamentary material, press articles and notices, and further reading suggestions which Members may find useful when preparing for this debate.

Healthcare-associated infections can develop either as a direct result of healthcare interventions such as medical or surgical treatment, or from being in contact with a healthcare setting. NICE has estimated that 300,000 patients a year in England acquire a healthcare‑associated infection as a result of care within the NHS and that the prevalence of healthcare-associated infections in hospitals in England in 2011 was 6.4%.

This briefing provides further information on current rates of infection throughout the UK, as well as the different standards to prevent and control these infections in NHS settings in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.