About our service:
Key themes of our work are:
- Clinical advice and support to frontline staff caring for patients with ‘alert organisms’.
- Infection surveillance
- Practice improvement – supporting improvement in practice to reduce the risk of infections
- Audit and inspection
- Education and training
- Advising on changes in service delivery
- Supporting development of premises and approving final specifications
- Approving new equipment – ensuring it can be effectively decontaminated
- Developing and maintaining a range of policies and guidance
- Outbreak management
- Antimicrobial prescribing
- Approving cleaning schedules for clinical areas
- Supporting governance relating to water quality
- Supporting Occupational Health and Safety regarding issues relating to staff and infection risks
- Monitoring infection related incidents and identifying opportunities for learning and improvement
- Patient safety is at the heart of everything we do in NHS Borders and we continually review and improve the systems and processes we have in place to ensure our wards and departments achieve our aim of being the safest in Scotland.
In some instances, Infection Prevention & Control is referred to as Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI).
When are we open:
The Infection Control Office is open Monday to Friday 09:00 - 17:00 (excluding Christmas and New Year Public Holidays).
How to contact us:
Infection Control Office: 01896 826262
e-mail: infection.control@borders.scot.nhs.uk
Where are we:
The Infection Prevention and Control Team are based in the laboratory department in Borders General Hospital but provide a service accross the whole of NHS Borders.