For information the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual has been adopted by RDaSH.
The National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM) for England is an evidence-based practice manual for use by all those involved in care provision in England and the principles are applicable to all care settings. The aim of the NIPCM is to ensure a consistent UK wide approach to infection prevention and control (IPC), however some operational and organisational details may differ.
The NIPCM has been adapted for use to support and facilitate healthcare providers to demonstrate compliance with the ten criteria of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance.
Pathogen specific guidance is out of remit of the NIPCM. Pathogen-specific guidance appropriate to England, is produced by other agencies, for example, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), and can be found in the A to Z of pathogens resource.
- National IPC manual (opens in new window)
- A to Z of pathogens (opens in new window)
- Outbreak procedure
Quick guides
The quick guides below have been developed to incorporate local policy and procedure. They will provide you with the information required for the initial management of a patient with a specific organism or for a particular process, with any ongoing support provided by the IPC team.
- Antimicrobial resistance
- Bare below the elbows
- Blood and body fluid spillages
- Chickenpox or shingles (Varicella Zoster virus)
- Clostridioides difficile (C.diff)
- Contamination injury procedure
- Diarrhoea assessment tool
- Discharge cleaning guide and checklist
- Managing pathology specimens safely
- Meticillin resistant Stapylococcus aureus (MRSA)
- Multidrug resistant organism (MDRO)
- Norovirus
- Patient equipment and general cleaning guide and checklist
- Patient placement and assessment of infection risk
- Respiratory illness pathway
- Respiratory infection
- Scabies
- Sharps management
- Terminal cleaning guide and checklist
- Toy cleaning guide and checklist
- Tuberculosis (TB)
- Transportation of sharps and specimens
- Ward outbreak
Supporting documents
- Amber lodge bare below elbows video (opens in new window)
- Are you BBE?
- BBE why does it matter
- Bin the bling
- Bristol stool chart bowel movement record
- Chickenpox or shingles colleague contact list
- Chickenpox or shingles patient contact list
- Gastroenteritis data collection chart
- Gastroenteritis symptoms chart
- Hand hygiene assessment tool
- ReSPECT bare below elbows video (opens in new window)
- Room isolation poster
- Ward entrance poster
- Waste transport document
Pathology specimen handbooks
- Doncaster (staff access only) (opens in new window)
- Rotherham (opens in new window)
- North Lincolnshire (opens in new window)
Contact Information
Advice can be obtained from:
- The IPC team 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday:
- Email: rdash.ipcteam@nhs.net
- Telephone: 03000 214872
- The consultant microbiologist for urgent or out of hours advice. Please escalate through usual processes prior to contacting to ascertain if appropriate. If urgent or out of hours advice is required then contact the microbiologist for the locality the patient is in:
- Doncaster and North Lincolnshire areas contact Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (DBTHFT) on 01302 366666.
- Rotherham area contact The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust (TRFT) on 01709 820000.
- The UK Health Security Agency (UKSHA) on 0300 3030234. It will automatically redirect staff during out of hours.
Notifiable diseases and causative organisms
Registered medical practitioners (RMPs) attending a patient must notify the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) when they have “reasonable grounds for suspecting” that the patient has a notifiable disease and causative organism.
The most current guidance and forms to undertake this can be found on the GOV.uk website (opens in new window).
Useful links
- National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2021 (opens in new window)
- Aseptic non touch technique (opens in new window)
- The UK sepsis trust (opens in new window)
- NHS choices (opens in new window)
- Daniels healthcare (opens in new window)
- GAMA Clinell healthcare (opens in new window)
- RDaSH sharps generic risk assessment (staff access only) (opens in new window)
- The Royal Marsden (staff access only) (opens in new window)
- The green book. Immunisation against infectious disease. (opens in new window)
- RDaSH health and safety (staff access only) (opens in new window)
- RDaSH waste management (staff access only) (opens in new window)
- RDaSH emergency planning (staff access only) (opens in new window)
Training
All staff must undertake 000 infection prevention and control level 1 training every three years via e-learning. This will be recorded on the electronic staff record (ESR) system.
Clinical staff must undertake 000 infection prevention and control level 2 training annually (completing level 2 training will update the level 1 training on your matrix). This training can be completed via e-learning. This will be recorded on the ESR.
Specific topics level 3, by request directly to the IPC team. This training is undertaken as requested, will be delivered face to face by the IPC team and recorded on ESR.
Monitoring arrangements
Non adherence to procedures will be monitored via IR1 reports, post infection reviews, outbreak reports, clinical visits and clinical audit. This will be undertaken by managers or matrons and the IPC team. This will be reported to the infection prevention and control committee (IPCC) on a quarterly basis.
Page last reviewed: March 12, 2024
Next review due: March 12, 2025