According to the health and safety executive (online: 2012) the different types of Personal protective equipment contain respirators (masks), Protective gloves, protective clothing, protective footwear and eye protection. These equipment’s need to be supplied for health and social care settings because they are needed on a regular basis. For example at Blue Cable residential care home the staff should ensure that they are wearing protective gloves at all times when they are dealing with patients and when there is a current outbreak to manage it they would need to wear masks defiantly when it is an airborne infection for example measles, tuberculosis and anthrax.
When putting this measure in to place managers within the setting need to train staff to be able to use them in the correct method. When they are not they can cause more infections then not having them at all. The Health and Safety Act clearly states how crucial it is for staff to be given training on how to use the equipment. Seen at Legesation.gov.uk (online: 2012). The extent of information, instruction and training vary with the complexity and performance of the kit. For example if staff are required to use a full breathing apparatus kit to manage an infectious outbreak they would require more training to use properly rather than a disposable face mask.
Hand washing
Hand washing is another safety measure conducted through the health and safety act (1974). This is a procedure that is constantly improving to make it better and make it more workable in preventing infections within a health and social care setting. Hand washing is a compulsory action that takes priority in all staffs list of tasks. Most bacteria lies on the hands and therefor the hands are the main part that needed to be assessed and measured to prevent the cross- contamination of infections between staff and service users and service users to staff.
This was proven through an experiment carried out by the world health organisation that shown that the prevalence of MRSA colonization was 30% without any hand hygiene, it would decrease to only 22% if hand hygiene compliance increased to 40% and to 20% if hand hygiene compliance increased to 60%. (WHO 2011 online)
The NHS has released a latest addition in how the hands should be washed to make sure that a majority of bad pathogens are not on their hand. Here is a diagram:
The importance of hand hygiene is not only mentioned in the health and safety act but also by the World Health Organisation many times emphasising the importance in being efficient in washing the hands to a level that would create the least risk of infections within health and social care settings.
Hand washing also links in with the food safety act (2001). This act stets the importance in managing food with clean hands. Food can hold a lot of bacteria when it is not cooked and prepared in the right way. The food safety act states that individuals working with food need to be trained about the importance of hand washing and when there is most need to wash hands. For example after working with meat the hands need to be washed as there would be infectious bacteria’s on the hands that need to be removed before going on to the next task. This was stated by the department of health (2012: online). Hand washing is a safety measure that is crucial in preventing infections and is needed in most legislations and regulations related to infection control. The World Health Organisation and the Health Department yearly improve the stand of cleaning hands and make sure that as health and social care facilities increase the risk of infections is reduced according to the world health organisation (2012:online).
Environmental hygiene/ Waste management
This is another measure that is used to control infectious outbreaks. Health and social care settings can provide the ideal environment for micro- organisms to grow and be transmitted from staff to service users. This is because of the vast amount of people living under one roof and also due to weak immune systems that are unable to tolerate any bad pathogens. The proximity of staff and service users is another cause of infections being transmitted at such a rapid rate in health and social care settings. Therefor the environment is a key control measure that helps in the prevention and controlling of infections.
Having a hygienic environment closely links to the environmental protection (duty of care Act (1990). This act refers to the importance of health and social care settings being able to provide a clean and safe environment for service users in relation to waste. The law refers to waste as “any substance or object which the producer or the person in possession of it discards or intends or is required to discard” (Environmental Protection Act 1990 section 34). When staffs are able to manage a safe environment and keep the waste within the setting organised there is a reduction of infections.
Controlling waste in health and social care settings needs to be assessed on regular bases to make sure that it is being followed in the correct way to prevent an outbreak from occurring. Any health and social care worker that is working with types of waste including sharps, hazardous, offensive, municipal (household) and pharmaceutical (medicinal) waste. All have a legal obligation to protect the health of their patients and share the responsibility to sustain and protect the environment (International council of nursing, online: 2009). Waste reduction, segregation and disposal are all crucial to keeping a healthy environment and reducing the risks of infectious out breaks to begin. There are different coloured bags used for different waste products which allow the people who take the waste to the disposal centres to also be protected from infections because they can wear the right personal protective equipment. (PPE)
Environmental hygiene also relates to the management of equipment such as sharps and drugs to control an infectious outbreak. National guidelines and agreed standard of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (2008) have given a list of the ways equipment should be dealt with to prevent and control infections. For example within blue cable care home sharps must not be transferred between workers and handling should be kept to a minimum. Needles must not be bent or broken prior to use or disposal. Needles and syringes must not be disassembled by hand prior to disposal. Are a couple of the guidelines that where provided for health and social care workers to be aware of on how to handle infectious equipment.
Isolation
The last safety measure is isolation. This is a measure to prevent the worst case of contagious infections from spreading further than the current outbreak. For example if all the residents at blue cable care home are infected with the measles they should all be isolated for a certain amount of time to prevent the visitors or staff from being infected. Isolation is very important safety measure that helps in the controlling of an infectious out beak. Air Bourne disease are most occurrence in patients who need to be isolated due to them having the most risk in spreading the infection on. According to infection control services (online: 2007)
There are many guidelines and legal requirements that are set out for staff working in health and social care to protect of service users from the infection but also make sure there human rights are not tampered with. When an individual is isolated there needs to be full assessment before it can take place. Prior to moving the patients to an isolation room other measures such as a hygienic environment needs to be created in that room. The temperature is also a key part in making sure the infection is unable to multiple. The service user needs to be informed about what is happening and make sure that the area is complete decontaminated of all bacteria’s to prevent the individuals from getting sicker due to already having weak immune systems.
Isolation is a good safety measure to use in health and social care due the amount of individuals that are within one setting infections are a lot easier to spread from person to person. This control measure also related to the Public Health Regulation (1998). This regulation states the two types of isolation Source / standard isolation: this is where the individual with the infection is isolated for a number of days depending on the type of infection. Protective isolation: this is where the individuals who are at risk of catching infections due to weak immune systems are isolated. Both of these forms of isolation can take place in controlling infections from spreading within blue cable care home. Infection control guidelines for care home (2007: online)
The Public Health Regulation department of health (online: 2010) also informs settings that when staffs work with patients who are in isolation they need to be present with a member of the health protection team. When a person is isolated all the previous mentioned measure should also be practiced when working with the isolated individual. For example hand washing, cleaning and decontamination and movement. Transfer and movement of patients should be kept to a minimum to reduce the risk of infection transmission and should only be undertaken for clinical reasons.
Overall Isolation, personal protective equipment, hand washing and environmental hygiene some of the safety measure that are put in place to reduce infections and prevent infectious outbreaks. The source of all these safety measures comes from guidelines, legislations and regulations which mean that they need to be enforced on all staff to contemplate and clearly understand the reason behind why they are set and how they can have the most effective way in being able to control infectious outbreaks.
Bibliography
Edexcel (2011) unit 39 (online) available at: accessed 25/10/2012
Health and safety executives (2006) UK Standard Assigned Protection (online) available at: accessed 25/10/2012
Infection control services (2006) source isolation (online) available at: accessed 25/10/2012
Health protection agency (2012) infection control (online) available at: accessed 25/10/2012
Department of health (2007) public health regulation (online) available at: accessed 25/10/2012
Legsaltion.gov.uk (2012) health and safety act 1974 (online) available at: accessed 25/10/2012
Health protection nurses (2007) INFECTION CONTROL GUIDELINES FOR CARE HOMES (online) available at: ACCESSED 25/10/2012
THE ASSOSIOAN OF ANASTETICS (2012) isolation (online) available at: accessed 25/102/012
World health Organisation (2012) infection control (online) available at; accessed 25/10/2012
Legesaltion.gov.uk (2012) food safety act 1990 (online) available at;
Legesaltion.gov.uk (2012) Environmental Protection Act 1990 (online) available at: accessed 25/10/2012
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