Infection control in high-risk community settings during Covid-19

Corbett, Kim
Beddow, Mark

Authors Kim Corbett is senior matron infection prevention; Mark Beddow is senior infection prevention nurse in the community infection prevention team; both at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

Nursing Times 118(9):p 31-32, September 2022.

In this article…

Benefits of a joined-up city-wide infection prevention and control approach during the pandemic
How a tailored approach helped care homes to prevent and manage outbreaks of Covid-19
Why this approach is now being expanded for other infections, such as MRSA

Abstract

Like many other cities in the UK, Wolverhampton was hit hard by Covid-19 during the pandemic, which began in 2020. It was agreed that a coordinated infection prevention and control approach was needed to support high-risk settings in the community, including care homes. A team was set up to provide tailored training, audit and outbreak management in care homes and other high-risk settings, with the support of public health, the clinical commissioning group and the acute trust. The approach has now been expanded to cover other areas of infection control including MRSA and C difficile.