Nutgrove Villa Surgery

20^th October 2025

Purpose 

This practice is committed to the control of infection within the building and in relation to the clinical procedures carried out within it.  This statement has been produced in line with the health and social care act 2008 and details the practices’ compliance with guidelines on infection control and cleanliness. From October 2025 this statement will be generated in October each year and will summarise:-

• Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken (these will have been reported in accordance with our significant event procedure)

• Details of any infection control audits/risk assessments undertaken and actions taken, available on request.

• Details of staff training .

• Any review and update of policies, procedures, and guidelines as and when due.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) lead

The lead for infection prevention and control at Nutgrove Villa Surgery is Sarah Bryan, GP Assistant.

The IPC lead is supported by Lorraine Coogan, Nurse Practitioner

a.       Infection transmission incidents (significant events)

Significant events involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events.

Positive events are discussed at meetings to allow all staff to be appraised of areas of best practice.

Negative events are managed by the staff member who either identified or was advised of any potential shortcoming. This person will complete a Significant Event Analysis (SEA) form that commences an investigation process to establish what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements.

All significant events are reviewed and discussed at several meetings each month. Any learning points are cascaded to all relevant staff where an action plan, including audits or policy review, may follow.

In the past year there have been no significant events raised that related to infection control. There have also been no complaints made regarding cleanliness or infection control. 

b.       Infection prevention audit and actions

Hand Hygiene

Staff are aware of the importance of hand hygiene reducing healthcare associated infections.  Hand Hygiene audits are carried out on a quarterly basis and are available upon request.

Infection Control

External Audits will be carried out once a year, audit report available upon request.

Internal Infection control audits are undertaken on a quarterly basis and audit reports are available upon request.

Clearning Audits

Daily self-audit of all rooms and clinical spaces staff members check all areas on a daily basis.

NHS Property Services complete 3 monthly cleaning audits on the cleaner ensuring the practice is at the correct standard.

Cold Chain Review

Cold chain policy is in place

Staff are aware of how to order, receive and care for vaccines that are delivered to Nutgrove Villa Surgery.

Vaccines close to expiry stock are clearly labelled and vaccines are rotated in date order.

Fridges temperatures are checked twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening). 

PPE Audits

Nutgrove Villa Surgery provides PPE for all members of the team in line with their role.

Should it be necessary all clinical staff are provides with aprons and several different types of and sizes of gloves.

Masks are provided for all staff as these are still required to be worn in certain circumstances when seeing patients, for example those with respiratory symptoms and for personal preference.

Reception staff are provided with gloves for the handling of sample pots and sharps bins.  Sharps bins must be disposed of i.e. incinerated after 3 months and not to be kept for longer than this.  They should be signed and locked as per protocol to avoid sharps injury and contamination.  All sharps boxes should remain on soft close until they are fully closed.

PPE Audits are also undertaken on a quarterly basis by the IPC Lead Sarah Bryan.

c.       Training

All staff undergo yearly e-learning mandatory training, which has an IPC component with a completion rate of 90%.

IPC Issues/updates are discussed regularly throughout the year in clinical and practice meetings.

Staff are encouraged to raise any IPC concerns with any of the management team or Sarah Bryan (IPC Lead).

d.       Policies and procedures

The infection prevention and control related policies and procedures that have been written, updated, or reviewed in the last year.

Policies relating to infection prevention and control are available to all staff and are reviewed and updated annually. Additionally, all policies are amended on an ongoing basis as per current advice, guidance, and legislation changes. 

e.       Responsibility

It is the responsibility of all staff members at Nutgrove Villa Surgery to be familiar with this statement and their roles and responsibilities under it. 

f.       Review

The IPC lead Sarah Bryan (GP assistant) and Lorraine Coogan (Nurse Practitioner) are responsible for reviewing and producing the annual statement.

This annual statement will be updated on or before 31.10.2026

Signed by

Sarah Bryan
For and on behalf of Nutgrove Villa Surgery