A team effort during the pandemic

It has been widely recognised that the infection prevention and control (IPC) teams around the country have been stretched beyond compare throughout the past 30 months or so. In my view, IPC teams have been nothing short of remarkable in leading the healthcare response to the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic, through an ever-changing environment, and while dealing with their own personal challenges. Our multidisciplinary colleagues have responded incredibly and collaborated like never before.

The IPC team I have the pleasure of leading, at the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, has consistently gone above and beyond by reviewing every COVID-19-positive case within the inpatient environment, to ensure that any hospital-acquired cases are reviewed quickly. Team members could go onto the wards to give proactive advice, and hopefully prevent onward transmission.

This agile response has led to several initiatives to support ward staff, such as developing a closure handover, to allow the site team and other relevant stakeholders to get a daily update on areas that were closed due to any infections. The IPC team also developed a COVID-19 care plan, to ensure that the changing guidance was captured and laid out in an understandable way for the nurses to follow.