Infection Prevention and Control

A fear that some people have about hospitals is that they may catch an infection there. We recognise this fear and we aim to give people as much information as possible to reassure them.

Weston General Hospital is the safest it has ever been.

It is important to distinguish between those infections which are acquired in hospital and those which are brought into hospital from the community. 

We screen ALL our patients for MRSA before they are admitted for a planned operation or on admission, if they are an emergency.

We are proud of our infection prevention record and look forward to continuing this important work. Please read on for more information on this important topic.

The Infection Prevention and Control Team

The Infection Prevention and Control Team includes

• Infection Control Nurses
• Infection Control Doctors (Medical Microbiologist)
• Biomedical scientists
• Administrative staff

Overall responsibility for Infection Control at the Trust rests with the Chief Executive. The Executive lead is the Director of Nursing.

The infection control team works to help prevent hospital acquired infection by:

• Providing an advice service for staff to help them prevent and manage infection. We are available to advise on the management of individual patients, or on outbreaks of infection. We are also available for advice about decontamination of equipment and the hospital wards and departments environment, or about best practice in the prevention of infection associated with any area of health care.
• Conducting programmes of surveillance (monitoring of certain types of infections or micro-organisms) and audits (environment and practice).
• Producing guidelines for all staff on the prevention and management of infection.
• Providing input to the education programmes provided by the trust for all staff.
• Liaising with staff involved in purchasing and planning to ensure infection control issues are given a high priority in their activities.

How are infections caused?

Infections are produced by disease-causing micro-organisms that enter the body, multiply, and damage cells or release toxins (poisonous substances). Micro-organisms are single-celled organisms (such as bacteria, parasites, viruses, or fungi) that are invisible to the naked eye.

Reducing the risk of infection

All Weston Area Health NHS Trust staff are given training in Infection Control and reducing the risk of infection, but we also ask visitors and patients to be aware of ways that they can help to keep the hospital a safe and infection free environment.

For more information on how you can help, please see the Reducing the Risk of Infection page.