Senior nurses at The Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust are taking part a national NHS Improvement 90-day project to reduce infection rates in hospitals.
The Trust manages North Manchester General Hospital, The Royal Oldham Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, and the rapid improvement team includes:
- Lorraine Durham, matron for infection prevention and control
- Michelle Connaughton, lead nurse – general internal medicine, infectious diseases and respiratory
- Tracey Shaw, lead nurse – general internal medicine, cardiology and stroke services
- Val McGuigan, matron division of anaesthesia and surgery
- Andrea Shenton, matron acting clinical matron on ward T7 at The Royal Oldham Hospital
Integral to the project is the use of a colour-coded card system to improve staff compliance with hand hygiene and the wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The scheme was initially launched last year following a staff engagement project to improve PPE and hand hygiene practice, particularly among medics and led by consultant physician and rheumatologist, Dr Vinodh Devakumar.
He worked with the infection control team at the Trust to look at staff use of PPE, such as gloves, aprons and masks, and their adherence to the Trust’s infection control policy.
A red, yellow and green card system was devised to signpost staff and encourage better adherence to policies around infection control.
The concept – adapted from the progressive coloured-card system used in football – means a yellow card is issued to staff members not complying with infection control policy, e.g. for wearing a watch in a clinical setting or not washing their hands between patient visits.
Lorraine Durham, matron for infection prevention and control, said: 'The yellow card should not be construed as a disciplinary or punitive measure, it should be seen as a gentle reminder and invite for discussion and education surrounding hand hygiene and wearing of personal protective equipment compliance.'
A record is kept by the infection prevention team of the staff name, position and area of work and the reason for the yellow card being issued.
'Staff noted to be receiving more than one yellow card for the same poor practice (or following a specified number of unrelated yellow cards) would, be given a red card and their manager informed.
Dr Devakumar said: 'The purpose of the scheme is to cultivate a culture within Pennine Acute Trust, where staff members feel more individual responsibility for maintaining a high standard of infection control behaviour, as well as notifying staff members about lapses in infection control.
'It also commends staff who are performing well as green card holders and encourages them to become infection control champions who lead by example and have a positive effect on the whole clinical area.'
Durham added: 'The improvement team is also looking at many other areas on wards which may affect infection rates such as staff training levels and cleaning.'
