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26 October 2009

Oxoid Honours Infection Control Teams at Awards Dinner

Winners recognized for excellence in infection prevention and control

We recently honoured the recipients of the 2008/2009 Oxoid Infection Control Team of the Year Awards at a recent dinner held at the world-famous Belfry Hotel in England.

1st: Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust

2nd: St Georges Healthcare NHS Trust

3rd: Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust

Judges Special Award: Providence Health Care

Dr. Nizam Damani, clinical director infection prevention and control, Southern Health & Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland, and representative of the International Federation of Infection Control, presented the first-prize trophy and a cheque for £5000 to Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT), Birmingham, England. Reductions in MRSA bacteraemia and Clostridium difficile infections combined with other significant improvements made by the team to raise the quality of care delivered to patients.

Representatives from the team at the St Georges Healthcare NHS Trust, London, England, received the 2nd prize of a framed certificate and a cheque for £1000 from 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. The recent initiatives introduced, building on a sustained effort by the St Georges team over a number of years, was cited by the judges as worthy of recognition.

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, presented a cheque for £500 and a framed certificate to the third-prize winners, the Infection Prevention and Control Team at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Portsmouth, England. The excellence in communication demonstrated by the team within the hospital and the wider community, with their ‘bugbusters’ campaign was cited as a particular achievement.

“The Oxoid Awards attract entries from infection control professionals from around the world,” said Ali Ball, vice president marketing and new product development, Oxoid. “We were extremely pleased that four members of the team from Providence Health Care, Vancouver, Canada were able to join us this year to receive a Judges’ Special Award for the work that they have undertaken, not only reducing levels of nosocomial infections, including Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci, which does not commonly feature in Awards entries, but also reducing infections in intravenous drug users and homeless persons in the local community.

“Our international competition generates entries that indicate many of the same infection control challenges exist worldwide, but there also are new and emerging threats being tackled by some teams on a daily basis. Oxoid is at the forefront of developing new products to assist in providing rapid diagnosis of existing and emerging disease. These products allow treatment regimes and infection control measures to be put in place as swiftly as possible to promote patient health. We are very proud to make these Awards in support of these aims,” she concluded.