Excellence in infection prevention and control demonstrated in hospitals worldwide.

We are pleased to announce that the first prize of £5,000 in the 2008/2009 Oxoid Infection Control Team of the Year Awards, has been awarded to the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, England. The Awards entry demonstrated sustained commitment to reducing healthcare associated infections.

Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT) is one of the largest trusts in England, with 1500 beds across four sites (Heartlands Hospital, Solihull Hospital, Good Hope Hospital and the Birmingham Chest Clinic). HEFT demonstrated significant improvements in the quality of care delivered to patients, achieving, in 2008, a 52% reduction in MRSA bacteraemia and 27% in Clostridium difficile infections. These impressive figures were combined with some innovations that impressed the Awards’ judges.

The provision of blood culture packs designed to reduce contaminated cultures was one such innovation that, when combined with the provision of training in aseptic technique, has led to significant reductions in contaminated cultures. “This is a simple, but clever, idea that can easily be emulated in other hospitals”, said one of the Awards’ judges, Dr Tim Boswell, Consultant Medical Microbiologist and Infection Control Doctor, Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust, and representative of the Hospital Infection Society.

The HEFT infection control team was proactive in its work with IT colleagues to develop an on-line web-based system for root cause analysis of MRSA bacteraemia. Replacing the previous paper trail with this easy-to-use computer system allowed the team to analyse data to identify targeted and effective interventions.

Along with many other improvement measures, a new initiative, whereby ward pharmacists issue notices of non-compliance to clinical staff, has also brought improvements to antibiotic prescribing procedures. “Again this simple technique was one of the many measures, designed and implemented by the team that impressed the judging panel”, commented Fiona Macrae, Oxoid Awards manager and chairman of judges, “we are delighted to award this year’s first prize to the Infection Prevention and Control Team at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust”.

The 2nd prize was awarded to the team at the St Georges Healthcare NHS Trust, London, England, who had effectively reduced healthcare associated infections through changes of working practices, broader team work with colleagues from other departments, and scrupulous attention to detail. The sustained effort of the St Georges team over a number of years, combined with new initiatives, was cited by the judges as worthy of recognition. The team’s entry demonstrated continued reduction in MRSA bacteraemia. The introduction of new activities and initiatives such as the ‘C. difficile ward round’ involving IC team members, Matrons, Antibiotic Pharmacists and Estates Managers, updating of clinical management guidelines and deep clean initiatives, were significant factors in the reduction of C. difficile infections. Other changes to systems, processes and accountability also helped to reduce infections, and the judges were delighted to Award the 2nd prize to the St Georges team.

In third place were the Infection Prevention and Control Team at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Portsmouth, England. The department excelled in their communication of infection prevention and control issues within the hospital and the wider community with a ‘bugbusters’ campaign’ that raised public awareness of the fight against hospital infection. The campaign involved the local press, the use of posters on buses, billboards at bus stops and activities in local schools. The team also achieved significant reductions in healthcare associated infections and developed an innovative ‘patient passport’ that accompanied a patient on their entire hospital journey.

“The Oxoid Infection Control Team of the Year Awards are open to infection prevention and control teams worldwide” concluded Fiona Macrae, “although we had many entries from UK teams this year, we had fewer overseas entries than in previous years. We are however delighted to make a Judges Special Award to the infection control team at Providence Health Care in Vancouver, Canada, for the work that they have undertaken, not only reducing levels of nosocomial infections, including VRE, which does not commonly feature in Awards entries, but also reducing infections in intravenous drug users and homeless persons in the local community.”

To register for the 2009/2010 Awards, please speak to you local Oxoid representative, or contact Fiona Macrae, tel: +44 (0) 1256 841144, fiona.macrae@thermofisher.com

About the Oxoid Infection Control Team of the Year Awards

The Oxoid Infection Control Team of the Year Awards were launched in 2003 and are designed to recognise and reward those who are making a real difference to improved standards of infection control within hospitals worldwide.

Oxoid, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, is a world leading microbiology brand with products used within hospital laboratories to aid clinicians in their diagnosis of MRSA, Clostridium difficile and many other infections and diseases.

The Oxoid Infection Control Team of the Year Awards are supported by the Hospital Infection Society, the Infection Prevention Society, the Association of Medical Microbiologists, and the International Federation of Infection Control. The judging panel is made up of representatives from each of these associations together with other experts in infection control, and the panel is chaired by Fiona Macrae, the Oxoid Awards Manager. This year’s judges were:

• Judy Potter, former president of the infection prevention society and director of infection prevention and control, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust.
  
• Dr Tim Boswell, consultant medical microbiologist and infection control doctor, Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust, Queen’s Medical Centre Nottingham, and representative of the Hospital Infection Society.
  
• Dr Nizam Damani, clinical director infection prevention & control, Southern Health & Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland and representative of the International Federation of Infection Control.
  
• Dr Stephen Barrett, director of infection prevention and control, Southend University Hospital, editor of The Journal of Hospital Infection and representative of the Association of Medical Microbiologists.
  
• Laura Ward, clinical marketing manager, Oxoid.
  
• Fiona Macrae, Oxoid awards manager and chairman of judges.

Previous Winners

Previous winners of the Oxoid Infection Control Team of the Year were:

2007/2008

1st: Worcester Acute NHS Trust, UK
2nd: East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust, UK
3rd: Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK

2006/2007

1st: Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, UK
2nd: Cho Ray Hospital, Vietnam
3rd: Joint - Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.

2005/2006

1st: Craigavon Area Hospital Group Trust, Co Armagh, N Ireland
2nd: Banso Baptist Hospital, Cameroon
3rd: Health Protection Agency, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, England
Highly Commended: Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, England

2004/2005

1st: Kingston Hospital NHS Trust, UK
2nd: Sanatorio Adventista del Plata, Argentina
3rd: Doncaster and Bassetlaw Foundation NHS Trust, UK
Highly Commended: The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, UK
Highly Commended: Juntendo University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

2003/2004

1st: Northern Lincolnshire & Goole Hospitals NHS Trust, UK
2nd: University Hospital, Lewisham (London), UK
3rd: Rotherham General NHS Trust, UK
Highly Commended: West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust, UK
Highly Commended: The Clinical Centre of Serbia