Infection Control in Primary Care

Good infection prevention (including cleanliness) is essential to ensure that people who use Health and Social Care services receive safe and effective care.  Effective prevention and control of infection must be part of everyday practice and should be applied consistently by everyone. Good management and organisational processes are crucial to make sure that high standards of infection prevention (including cleanliness) are developed and maintained.

We have developed a Primary Care Good Practice Guide for Infection Prevention & Control, which is a tool kit and collection of information gained from the NICE website (NICE 2019) and links to other national IP&C guidelines, policies and resources from the Department of Health and Social Care, Public Health England and NHS England and Improvement. You can also download this document from the resource box below.

Infection Prevention & Control Link Practitioner Information

View the latest infection Prevention & Control Newsletter

Education and Training Presentations

• Infection Prevention and Control Seasonal Respiratory Infections
• Clinical waste update for Primary Care
• Cleaning Standards for Practice Managers
• Acute Respiratory Tract Infections July 2021
• IPC Training C.diff September 2021
• IPC Leads Update November 2021
• IPC Leads Update December 2021
• Key Actions presentation December 2021

National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2021

NHS England » Our commitment to cleanliness
NHS England » National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2021
NHS England » National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2021: Supporting documents

Health and Social Care Act 2008

The document below sets out the Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections, under The Health and Social Care Act 2008. It will apply to registered providers of all healthcare and adult social care in England. The Code of Practice (Part 2) sets out the 10 criteria against which the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will judge a registered provider on how it complies with the infection prevention requirements, which is set out in regulations. To ensure that consistently high levels of infection prevention (including cleanliness) are developed and maintained, it is essential that all providers of health and social care read and consider the whole document and its application in the appropriate sector and not just selective parts.

Parts 3 and 4 of this document will help registered providers interpret the criteria and develop their own risk assessments.

The code applies to NHS bodies and providers of independent healthcare and adult social care in England, including primary dental care, independent sector ambulance providers and primary medical care providers

The importance of Hand Hygiene

Each year, hundreds of millions of patients around the world are affected by health care-associated infections (HCAIs).  Most health care-associated infections are preventable through good hand hygiene – cleaning hands at the right times and in the right way. 

The Five Moments for Hand Hygiene emerged from the WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care to add value to any hand hygiene improvement strategy. Quite simply, it defines the key moments for hand hygiene, overcoming misleading language and complicated descriptions. It presents a unified vision and promotes a strong sense of ownership. 

Not only does the Five Moments align with the evidence base concerning the spread of HCAI but it is interwoven with the natural workflow of care and is designed to be easy to learn, logical and applicable in a wide range of settings.  More information about the Five Moments is available on our Health Advice and Guidance page.

Further information and links to resources