Health and Wellbeing and Indoor Environmental Quality in Buildings – A Guide to BS 40102-1:2023

/in , /by

BS 40102-1:2023 – Health and Wellbeing and Indoor Environmental Quality in Buildings is a new code of practice which launched in April 2023.

In this post we’ll explain what BS 40102-1:2023 entails and discuss how you can meet the new regulations in your workplace.

What is BS 40102?

This new code of practice outlines a monitoring and reporting strategy for assessing wellbeing and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of non-domestic buildings. It establishes a rating system for benchmarking the quality of the:

  • Air
  • Light
  • Thermal comfort
  • Acoustics and soundscape

With these benchmark scores, facility managers can identify any problematic areas and make any necessary improvements.

BS 40102 applies to all forms of non-domestic buildings, existing or new.

Why Has ‘Health and Wellbeing and Indoor Environmental Quality in Buildings’ Been Introduced?

The BSI Group acknowledges that previous regulations, coupled with certain commercial pressures, encouraged designers, builders, and facility managers to prioritise energy efficiency. All too often, a focus on energy efficiency means that the health and wellbeing of a building’s occupants gets overlooked. For instance, a building might be constructed with efficient insulation, but with little thought given to the quality of ventilation and light levels.

These new standards will help facility managers and others improve the IEQs of the buildings they oversee. Improving IEQ can help reduce operating costs through increasing energy efficiency. But for hospitals and other healthcare settings, addressing IEQ can help improve staff and patient health and wellbeing while contributing to infection prevention and control.

BS 40102 Air Quality Standards

When it comes to air quality, BS 40102 outlines rating systems for:

Example Indoor Environmental Quality Benchmarks

Below are the BS 40102 rating systems for two forms of particulate matter – PM2.5 and PM10.

PM2.5

Level Description 24 Hour Average (μg/m3)
0 Very High ≥32
1 High 16 – <32
2 Acceptable 10 – <16
3 Low 5 – <10
4 Very Low <5

 

PM10

Level Description 24 Hour Average (μg/m3)
0 Very High ≥68
1 High 46 – <68
2 Acceptable 30– <46
3 Low 10 – <30
4 Very Low <10

 

How Cairn Technology Can Help You Meet BS 40102 Regulations

We can measure the air quality throughout your healthcare setting and monitor your staff’s exposure levels to any potentially harmful substances. As well as the hazardous pollutants covered by BS 40102, we can also test for levels of sevoflurane, isoflurane, Entonox, and more. This will help you understand your risk levels so you can devise an air quality solution that works for you. Head here to learn more about our bespoke air quality monitoring services.

We also stock a range of specialist air purification systems. Our Blueair HealthProtectTM  air purifiers are fitted with advanced HEPASilent technology. This is capable of catching 99.97% of particles down to 0.1 microns, including PM2.5 fine air particles, as well as VOCs, dust, mould, and up to 99% of viruses and bacteria. Browse our full range of hospital grade air purifiers.

Pollution & Air Quality A-Z Glossary

/in /by

Air quality consultants tend to use a lot of specialist terminology and acronyms when discussing pollution and air quality. This post is an essential A-Z glossary to help you understand various aspects of air pollution and quality.

Want to learn more about air purifiers and filtration? Be sure to check out our air purifier and filter buying guide A-Z.

Air Monitoring

An air quality monitoring technique in which consultants take a number of samples over a set period of time, to monitor how the air quality in an environment may change across this time. Read our full guide to air monitoring techniques.

Air Pollution

Air is considered polluted when it contains potentially hazardous levels of solid particle and chemical pollutants. Read our full guide to the sort of particles and chemicals that can pollute air supplies.

Air Quality

A measure of the relative purity of air. High quality air contains low levels of solid particle and chemical pollutants.

Air Quality Index

A real-time snapshot of the relative air quality in a given area, along with factors that might affect pollution levels (such as temperature and wind direction), and any current alerts and warnings. You can see an air quality index for the UK.

Air Sampling

An air quality monitoring technique in which consultants take a sample of the air in an environment. This provides a snapshot of the air quality in a given area as it was at that time. Read our full guide to air monitoring techniques.

DEFRA

The UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. DEFRA releases periodic air pollution forecasts, along with health advice and air pollution alerts. View an up-to-date DEFRA forecast.

Emissions

A general term for certain types of air pollution, referring to “emissions of air pollutants”. Examples include road traffic, natural fires, and certain industrial, construction and agricultural processes. You can read a DEFRA summary of UK air pollution emissions.

European Environment Agency

A European Union agency that provides independent information about environmental matters including air quality and air pollution. Learn more about the European Environment Agency.

Hazardous and Toxic Air Pollutant

Any pollutant found in the air which is known or suspected to be harmful to health and the environment. Examples include particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, ammonia, non-methane volatile organic compounds, and sulphur dioxide. Read our complete guide to hazardous and toxic air pollutants.

HEPA Filter

High-efficiency particulate air filter, capable of trapping up to 99.97% of all airborne particles down to 0.1 microns. Read our full guide to what a HEPA filter is and how it works.

PM1

Particulate Matter (PM), a hazardous and toxic air pollutant. The number refers to the size of the particle in micrometres. PM1 contains particles with a diameter of 1 micrometre or smaller. Examples include smoke, bacteria, and pollen.

PM2.5

Particulate Matter (PM), a hazardous and toxic air pollutant. The number refers to the size of the particle in micrometres. PM2.5 contains particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or smaller. Examples include dust and pet dander. As the particles are so small, when inhaled they can travel deep into your lungs and enter your bloodstream. Read our full guide to PM2.5.

PM10

Particulate Matter (PM), a hazardous and toxic air pollutant. The number refers to the size of the particle in micrometres. PM10 contains particles with a diameter of 10 micrometres or smaller, which includes viruses. Read our full guide to PM10.

PRTR

The UK Pollutant Release and Transfer Register. A UK inventory for pollution from industrial sources that’s released to the air, as well as to water and soil. Access the latest PRTR information.

Public Health England

A government body that analyses and advises on all aspects of public health in England. You can read their latest guidance on the effects of air pollution on human health.

Sick Building Syndrome

A large concentration of VOCs (see below) in an indoor atmosphere can lead to “sick building syndrome”. Anyone spending extended periods of time in such an environment may experience a number of symptoms, including headaches, fatigue, nausea, and eyes, nose and throat irritation.

UVC

UVC stands for ultraviolet C. This is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths between 200 and 290 nanometres. UVC light can kill viruses and bacteria in the atmosphere. Read our full guide to the use of UVC in air purification.

VOCs

Volatile organic compounds. An example of a hazardous and toxic air pollutant. Common sources of VOCs include combustion (such as smoking, heating, cooking and candle burning), petrol vapours, air fresheners, and cleaning products. Read our full guide to VOCs.

Want to Know More About Air Pollution and Air Quality?

We can help you improve the air quality in your workplace. Our exposure monitoring services can give you a reliable picture of the air pollution threats in your area, and we can advise on steps you can take to improve the air quality for everyone.

Get in touch to talk to one of our friendly air quality consultants today.

What Are Atmospheric Pollutants and Its Impact on Health

/in /by

An atmospheric pollutant is an airborne particle or chemical that has the potential to be hazardous to human health.

In this post we’ll discuss some of the most common types of atmospheric pollutants, and their causes. We’ll also explore how you can manage the risks of atmospheric pollutants in your workplace.

What Are Natural Atmospheric Pollutants?

Some atmospheric pollutants are created by natural processes – such as plants and the sea. These natural atmospheric pollutants can contribute to, or worsen, existing allergies and lung conditions. They can also pose certain environmental risks, such as contributing to weathering, erosion, and smog formation.

Examples include:

  • Ocean spray, which can contain dissolved salt and CO2.
  • Volcanoes, which can create particulate matter, along with a number of potentially harmful gases.
  • Pollen, which is naturally released by trees, plants, and grasses.

What Atmospheric Pollutants Are Caused By Human Activity?

The majority of atmospheric pollutants form as a result of human activity, including:

  • Road traffic emissions.
  • Burning fossil fuels (wood and coal) and other energy generation processes.
  • Industrial processes.
  • Manufacturing processes.
  • Agricultural processes.

Below we’ll discuss some of the major atmospheric pollutants caused by human activity, in turn.

What is Particulate Matter?

Particulate matter (PM) is a hazardous air pollutant composed of small particles that are invisible to the naked eye.

Examples of particulate matter include:

  • PM1 – In which the particles have a diameter of 1 micrometre or smaller. Examples include smoke, bacteria, and pollen.
  • 5 – In which the particles have a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or smaller. Examples include dust and pet dander. You can read our full guide to PM2.5.
  • PM10 – In which the particles have a diameter of 10 micrometres or smaller. Examples include the fumes from traffic and industrial processes. You can read our full guide to PM10.

Short and Long Term Exposure to Particulate Matter

Short-term exposure to particulate matter can aggravate existing conditions, including asthma, allergies, and other respiratory conditions. Long-term exposure to PM10 air pollution can lead to serious – even terminal – respiratory conditions, including lung cancer.

What are Nitrogen Oxides (NO and NO2)?

Nitrogen oxides are chemical compounds that are mainly formed by the combustion of fossil fuels, and during certain industrial processes.

Short and Long Term Exposure to Particulate Matter

Short-term exposure to NO2 can cause inflammation of the airways. This can increase an individual’s susceptibility to respiratory infections and allergens. Long-term exposure to NO2 can cause edema, a build-up of fluid in the lungs, leading to bronchitis or pneumonia. As a result, exposure to large amounts of NO2 can be fatal.

NO2 can also react with oxygen in the atmosphere to form ozone. Ozone gas can trigger asthma attacks and respiratory conditions, and can cause inflammation of the eyes, nose, and throat.

You can read our full guide to nitrous oxides, and the hazards they cause.

What Are Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)?

The term VOC can refer to thousands of atmospheric pollutants, many of which are colourless and odourless. Though some VOCs are created by biological processes, most are created by human activity. They’re usually created as a by-product of processes including burning fuels, smoking cigarettes, or using paints, cosmetics, cleaning products, and machinery.

Short and Long Term Exposure to VOCs

Short-term exposure to VOCs can cause headaches, fatigue, nausea, and irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. VOCs can also exacerbate existing allergies, asthma, and other respiratory conditions. Long-term exposure to VOCs can contribute to organ damage and may even cause some cancers.

You can read our full guide to VOCs.

“Toxic Air at the Door of the NHS”

“Toxic Air at the Door of the NHS” was a recent report that found that over 2,000 UK health centres are located in areas with dangerously high levels of atmospheric pollutants, particularly particulate matter. This includes 248 hospitals, which accounts for around 25% of all hospitals in the UK.

Is your hospital or healthcare setting located in an area with toxic air? Take a look at our guide to the best and worst areas in the UK for air pollution to find out.

In any case, there are a few active steps you can take to improve the air quality for your staff, patients, and other visitors:

Quick, Effective and Unobtrusive Hospital-Grade Air Purifiers From Cairn Technology

Our Blueair HealthProtect™ air purifiers are fitted with advanced HEPASilent™ technology. This is capable of catching 99.97% of particles down to 0.1 microns, which includes many of the most common atmospheric pollutants, such as VOCs, nitrous oxides, and particulate matter. They can also capture and kill 99% of viruses and bacteria.

Take a look at our specialist air purification systems for hospitals.

How To Manage an Outbreak of C. difficile

/in , /by

Clostridium Difficile Infections (CDIs) are among the most common hospital acquired infections.

In this post we’ll discuss what C. difficile is and how it spreads. We’ll then explore how robust cleaning protocols and procedures can help you manage a C. diff outbreak.

What is C. difficile?

Clostridium difficile is a type of bacteria which usually lives harmlessly in your bowels. However, certain antibiotic treatments can change the balance of bacteria in the gut, which can trigger a C. difficile infection.

Symptoms of C. difficile Infection

Common symptoms of a C. difficile infection include:

  • Diarrhoea
  • Loss of appetite
  • Stomach ache
  • Nausea
  • High temperatures

How is C. diff Transmitted?

As one of the main symptoms of C. diff is diarrhoea, C. diff infections can spread quickly. When outside the body, the C. diff bacteria can turn into spores which are capable of surviving for long periods on hands, surfaces, objects, clothing, and linen.

Without regular washing and cleaning, it’s all too easy for these spores to transmit from a surface to a person’s mouth, which could result in an infection. For example, a person might touch a surface containing C. diff spores with their hand. They might then, without thinking, wipe their mouth with their hand.

Read our full guide to how communicable diseases spread.

What Places are Most At Risk of a C. diff Outbreak?

Any healthcare setting where patients or residents share facilities is particularly at risk of a C. diff outbreak.

This might include:

  • Care homes
  • GP clinics
  • Hospital wards
  • Dental surgeries

Who is Most At Risk of a C. diff Infection?

As well as people taking certain antibiotic treatments, people aged 65 or over are particularly at risk of C. difficile infections.

How to Manage a C. diff Outbreak

A person with a C. diff infection may carry an infection risk until 48 hours after their symptoms have passed. So ideally, anyone with a C. diff infection should stay at home until at least 48 hours after their symptoms have cleared up. Though in a healthcare setting such as a care home or a hospital, this might not be possible.

As a result, only stringent cleaning procedures and protocols can help prevent and control C. diff outbreaks:

  • Practice good hand hygiene. Staff should adopt the appropriate hand washing technique, and commit to washing their hands at certain key moments – such as before and after touching patients or their surroundings. You should also provide patients and residents with appropriate hand sanitiser so that they too can practice effective hand hygiene.
  • Clean the care environment as often as possible. Your cleaning procedures should already ensure you’re carrying out thorough cleaning at least once a day. But your cleaning procedures should intensify in the event of an outbreak, paying particular attention to any surfaces that people might touch, such as toilets, light-switches, and door handles.
  • Wash any contaminated clothes and sheets as soon as possible, and separately from other washing.
  • Advise visitors to take extra precautions – or to avoid visiting completely – for the duration of the outbreak.

Read our full guide to managing outbreaks in care homes.

How We Can Help You Manage a C. diff Outbreak

We stock an advanced range of highly effective cleaning and containment products that will help you prevent and control C. diff and other infections in your care setting.

Our range includes:

  • Virusolve+ Wipes – A one-step solution, all-in-one cleaner, sanitiser, and disinfectant that can kill C diff bacteria on surfaces in as little as 5 minutes. It then creates a residual barrier that can help prevent infection for up to 7 days. You can use them on any surface, including carpets, upholstery, and mattresses. Also available as a trigger spray and a concentrate.
  • Virusan – Antimicrobial hand sanitiser and hand scrub capable of removing up to 99.999% of the most common germs in less than a minute, designed to eliminate the risk of cross-infection from hand transfer within 30 seconds of application. Also available as a gel.

We also stock hospital-grade air purifiers. In the event of a C. diff outbreak, they can quickly and effectively catch and kill airborne spores, completely cycling the air in a room in as little as 12.5 minutes.

For more information about how we can help you manage C. diff outbreaks in your care setting, call us on 0333 015 4345 or email info@cairntechnology.com.

Infection Control Legislation For Care Homes

/in , , /by

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at how this legislation relates to infection prevention and control in care homes.

Relevant Legislation for Care Homes

If you manage a care home, you have a legal obligation to implement stringent infection prevention and control policies and procedures.

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 gives the Care Quality Commission powers to enforce best practice regulations in all health and adult social care sectors.

You can read the full wording of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 here.

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 only applies to England. There are different legislations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. We are focusing on the English legislation in this post because it provides an effective introduction to how the regulatory systems works in the UK.

Regardless of the specific legislation that might apply, your obligations are effectively the same:  If you don’t prioritise your residents’ health and wellbeing, regulatory bodies can and will take action against you.

What Are Regulated Activities?

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 defines a “regulated activity” as “an activity of a prescribed kind”.

“Prescribed activity” essentially refers to activity that “involves, or is connected with, the provision of health or social care in, or in relation to, England”.

Regulation of Regulated Activities

The Act gives the Secretary of State powers to “impose requirements … necessary to secure that services provided … cause no avoidable harm to the persons for whom the services are provided.”

This includes making provisions and imposing requirements as to the:

  • Fitness of premises.
  • Keeping of records and accounts.
  • Management and training of anyone who works for the purpose of carrying out the regulated activity.

And crucially, the Act outlines that regulations “may make provision for the prevention and control of health care associated infections and may include such provision as … appropriate for the purpose of safeguarding individuals … from the risk, or any increased risk, of being exposed to health care associated infections or being made susceptible, or more susceptible, to them.”

The Act also gives the Secretary of State powers to issue codes of practice relating to health care associated infections.

What Happens If You Don’t Meet Infection Control Regulations?

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 makes it clear that you have a legal obligation to meet any codes of practice relating to infection prevention and control. If you do not meet these regulations, the Care Quality Commission can take action against you.

This might include:

  • Issuing notices outlining improvements you must make, and by when you should make them.
  • Imposing conditions or restrictions on your practices for a given time.
  • Putting special measures in place to supervise your activities.
  • Holding you to account through issuing cautions, fines, or even through prosecution.

You can read some examples of instances where the Care Quality Commission has used its powers of prosecution.

How To Meet Your Infection Control Regulatory Requirements

We’ve put together a number of guides to help you ensure effective infection control in care homes:

We specialise in supporting healthcare settings, including care homes, in the delivery of effective infection prevention and control policies:

Want to talk about how we can help you meet your infection control regulatory requirements? Get in touch to talk to one of our friendly experts today.

Dental Decontamination & Infection Control Checklist

/in , /by

Just like any other healthcare setting, dental surgeries need to adopt numerous infection prevention and control measures. Key to this is understanding the key sources of infection, and the means by which infections might spread.

Key Sources of Infection in Dental Practices

Communicable diseases usually spread via direct contact with a person carrying the infection. Dentists and dental nurses work in very close proximity to their patients, and with each other. Such close contact can make cross-contamination more likely – whether that’s from staff to patient, patient to staff, or from staff to staff.

Yet pathogens can also survive on surfaces for hours, days, or months. A patient or a member of staff could quite easily pick up an infection through simply touching a door handle that an infected individual also happened to touch. But much more serious would be a dentist or a dental nurse using a contaminated device on a patient. Given the nature of dental treatments, this could easily introduce pathogens into the patient’s bloodstream.

How to Prevent and Control Infection in Dental Practices

Dental practices should follow the same Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs) as other healthcare practitioners. These precautions include:

  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) policies – including using adequate PPE for the task at hand, and effective storage, handling, and disposal of any PPE used.
  • Good hand hygiene techniques – not just in terms of how to wash your hands, but also in terms of when you should do so.
  • Cough and sneeze etiquette – catch it, bin it, kill it.

Other key infection prevention and control precautions include safe management of the care environment, and of any equipment used on or around patients. In short, this means following robust cleaning and decontamination procedures.

Dental Decontamination & Infection Control Checklist

The NHS Infection Prevention and Control team recommends dental clinics perform weekly audits to ensure that they can maintain their environmental cleanliness standards.

Following a checklist could help ensure you don’t overlook any crucial areas of your dental practice.

Here are some things that your dental decontamination and infection control checklist could cover:

  • Reception and Waiting Areas
  • Corridors
  • Surgeries
  • Utility Rooms
  • Toilets
  • Storage (with separate checks for the cleaners’ storage room, and anywhere dental supplies are stored).

For each area, there should be at least two levels of checks:

  • Essential Check – The area is visibly clean, and free from any clutter or unnecessary items.
  • Thorough Check – A more detailed audit of any surfaces or items that might act as vectors for cross-contamination. Different areas of the clinic will require different checks. But in general, you should pay attention to anything that staff or patients might touch, and any surfaces where pathogens could thrive. This could include light switches, furniture, magazines, pictures, pamphlets, carpets, curtains, and so on.

Though high standards of cleanliness are essential throughout the dental practice, you’ll likely need to follow more stringent cleaning procedures in any areas where treatment take place.

You’ll find a good dental decontamination audit tool template on the NHS IPC team’s website.

Effective Decontamination of Dental Equipment

When it comes to dental equipment, dental staff must consider three separate levels of decontamination: cleaning, sterilization, and disinfection.

All dental equipment and devices will have different risk levels depending on how frequently they’re used, and where they’re used. This risk level will determine the level of decontamination required, and how often the decontamination procedure should take place.

Read our full guide to the three levels of decontamination for medical devices here.

Essential Support for Effective Infection Prevention and Control in Dental Practices

We stock a full range of highly effective hospital cleaning and containment products, including the powerful Virusolve+ range of wipes and concentrates. Browse our complete range of infection control products.

With our air purifiers, we can also help you trap and kill up to 99% of airborne viruses and bacteria in your dental surgery, along with up to 99.9% of potentially hazardous pollutants, such as VOCs, inhalable dust, and particulate matter. Browse our range of air purification solutions.

 

Environmental Decontamination: Stages & When to Implement

/in , /by

In a healthcare setting, “environmental decontamination” refers to the process of thoroughly cleaning surfaces as part of effective infection prevention and control.

In this post we’ll discuss the various stages of environmental decontamination in hospitals and healthcare settings and explain when these should be implemented.

The Role of Environmental Decontamination in Infection Prevention and Control

Staff and patients carrying communicable diseases can shed pathogens in a number of ways. These pathogens can survive on surfaces for hours, days, and even months.

In this way, contaminated surfaces can contribute to the person-to-person transmission of pathogens in healthcare settings. This presents a serious risk for certain high-risk patients, including the elderly, the immunocompromised, and the immunosuppressed.

Patients from high-risk groups may be more likely to contract infections from contaminated surfaces. And if they do pick up an infection, they’ll be more likely to experience severe symptoms.

While manual cleaning can contribute to infection prevention and control, if the cleaning agent itself becomes contaminated with pathogens, then the cleaning process could actually contribute to the spread of infection. Environmental decontamination goes beyond surface level cleaning. It’s a strategy for removing and destroying infectious pathogens and contaminants.

The Three Stages of Environmental Decontamination

  1. Cleaning
  2. Enhanced cleaning
  3. Disinfection

Stage 1: Cleaning

The cleaning stage of the environmental decontamination process involves physically removing dirt, dust, and other contaminants from surfaces.

In most healthcare settings, cleaning should take place at least once a day.

Using a combination of mops, brushes, cloths and detergents, cleaning will remove the sort of organic matter from surfaces on which pathogens can take hold. However, it is unlikely to eliminate potentially harmful microorganisms entirely.

As such, cleaning might suffice for items and surfaces that will not come in direct contact with the patient.

Stage 2: Enhanced Cleaning

Some infection prevention and control procedures will call for enhanced cleaning processes. This might simply extend to an increased frequency of fundamental cleaning processes. Or it may call for the use of more specialised disinfectants or equipment.

In some areas of the hospital, such as an operating theatre, enhanced cleaning procedures may take place as a matter of course as part of a wider infection control protocol. Otherwise, enhanced cleaning might be recommended as a response to an outbreak of a communicable disease (such as norovirus); or as part of a containment response to a spillage (of bodily fluids, or chemicals etc.)

Stage 3: Disinfection

Enhanced cleaning may remove microbes and pathogens, but it will not necessarily kill them. Manual disinfection can actively reduce the levels of infectious agents in the area.

As with enhanced cleaning, disinfection may extend to simply making use of specific disinfectant agents as advised. And as with enhanced cleaning, disinfection might be standard practice in some healthcare settings, or it might be recommended as part of the response to a specific event.

For example, any surface contaminated with bodily fluids, such as blood or diarrhea, will require disinfection. Cleaning and enhanced cleaning processes will first serve to make the area visibly clean. Meanwhile, manual disinfection will serve to remove as many lingering microbes as possible.

Different Decontamination Procedures for Medical Equipment

As the name suggests, environmental decontamination is all about removing pathogens from the healthcare environment. This might involve floors, surfaces, windows, items of furniture, and so on.

When it comes to medical equipment – particularly items that might come into contact with a patient’s mucous membrane – healthcare workers must consider three separate levels of decontamination: cleaning, sterilization, and disinfection.

All medical equipment and devices will have different risk levels depending on how frequently they’re used, and where they’re used. This risk level will determine the level of decontamination required, and how often the decontamination procedure should take place.

Read our full guide to the three levels of decontamination for medical devices.

Essential Support for Effective Environmental Decontamination

We stock a full range of highly effective hospital cleaning and disinfectant products, including the powerful Virusolve+ range of wipes and concentrates. Browse our complete range of infection control products.

With our hospital-grade air purifiers we can also help you reduce the levels of airborne pathogens in your hospital, along with other potentially hazardous pollutants, such as VOCs, inhalable dust, and particulate matter. Browse our range of air purification solutions for healthcare settings.

How Does Infection Spread in a Hospital?

/in , , , /by

In this post we’ll discuss how infections spread in hospitals and explore some ways you can prevent and control infections in your hospital.

Ways Infections Spread in Hospitals

Most hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) spread in one of two ways:

  • As a result of treatment.
  • From person-to-person, or via another communicable disease vector (pathogens on a surface, or in the air, for example).

You can read our guide to the most common hospital-acquired infections.

How Infections Spread as a Result of Treatment

Some hospital-acquired infections can spread as a direct result of certain medical treatments.

Examples include:

  • Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) – Invasive procedures involve making incisions in a patient’s skin. Though such procedures are performed in highly controlled sterile environments, it’s possible for incision wounds to get contaminated by microorganisms from the patient’s own body, or from outside sources.
  • Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) – diff bacteria can exist harmlessly in the bowel. But a course of antibiotics can sometimes cause a bacterial imbalance in the gut, triggering a CDI.

How Communicable Diseases Spread in Hospitals

A patient or a member of staff might bring an existing infection into a healthcare setting such as a hospital. Or a patient may develop an infection during their hospital stay while receiving treatment for an unrelated condition.

These are communicable diseases, and they can spread in a number of ways:

  • From Person-to-Person – Coughs, sneezes, and even touches can spread viruses and bacteria from person to person. CDI, for example, is a common hospital-acquired infection because a major symptom is diarrhoea, which can act as a vector for the spread of bacteria. And of course, during the 2020 pandemic it became clear just how quickly Covid-19 can spread from person-to-person in a hospital.
  • Indirect Contact – Viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens can survive for hours, or even days, on surfaces and inanimate objects. A patient may cough or sneeze into their hand. If they then use a doorhandle or a light switch, any staff member or patient who subsequently touches that item may pick up their germs. And if they then touch their mouth, nose, or eyes, they may introduce the germs into their bloodstream.
  • Contamination – Finally, eating or drinking contaminated food or water can spread communicable diseases. E. coli, for example, is a common hospital-acquired infection, and it can be contracted from eating undercooked meat.

How To Prevent The Spread of Diseases in a Hospital

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued recommendations that could help prevent SSIs in hospitals. These include a series of steps for the preoperative phase (including showering and nasal decolonisation), recommendations for staff and patient theatre wear, and a series of checks to make both before and after the procedure. Read the full NICE guidelines for preventing SSIs here.

When it comes to controlling communicable diseases, hospitals must follow the standard infection control precautions (SICPs):

These include:

  • Patient placement – Perform a comprehensive infection risk assessment for each patient, and isolate patients with a high risk of cross-infection.
  • Hand hygiene – Follow a specific hand-washing technique to thoroughly clean your hands at key touchpoints – such as before and after interacting with a patient and their surroundings. Also advise patients to follow good hand hygiene guidelines and provide plenty of handwashing stations throughout your hospital.
  • Personal protective equipment (PPE) – There should be clear procedures for what PPE to use and when. You should also have procedures for storing, applying, removing, and disposing of PPE.
  • Cleaning – Commit to safe management of both care equipment and the care environment. Thorough cleaning should take place regularly and on an ongoing basis. You should also have specialist procedures for cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization in the event of outbreaks, and for high-risk equipment and environments.

Read our full guide to standard infection control precautions in hospitals and healthcare settings.

Control the Spread of Hospital-Acquired Infections

At Cairn Technology, we’ve been helping both NHS and private hospitals prevent and control infections for over 20 years.

We can help you with:

To discuss how we can help you prevent and control infection in your hospital, get in touch to talk to one of our friendly experts today.

 

How To Manage an Outbreak of Infection in a Care Home

/in , , /by

Any outbreak of infection in a care home must be considered a high-priority issue. Infections can easily spread in any location where people share facilities, and care home residents are high-risk groups: If they develop an infection, they’re more likely to experience severe symptoms.

What is an Outbreak?

The NHS defines an infectious disease outbreak as “when there are more people with the disease than you might normally expect.” There may be a different criteria for declaring an outbreak depending on the setting. When it comes to COVID-19 in a care home setting, for example, the NHS recommends declaring an outbreak when “there are two or more staff, residents, or visitors testing positive within 14 days of each other.”

If you don’t take steps to control an outbreak, the number of people infected could increase rapidly. This will have a huge impact on staff and resident wellbeing, and on the quality of care you’re able to deliver.

When is an Outbreak Over?

The NHS advises that you can declare an outbreak as over when 28 days pass without any new cases of the infection. Again, this advice is specific for COVID-19, but you can use a similar criteria for other infectious diseases in a care home.

What Are The Most Common Infections in Care Homes?

COVID-19 remains a major risk for care homes. But you must treat any outbreak of any infection just as seriously.

More than 50% of all care home infections can be linked to:

  • The influenza virus
  • Norovirus
  • Salmonella
  • Streptococcus Pyogenes

Read our full guide to the most common infections in care homes.

How To Manage an Outbreak of Infection in a Care Home

You should have dedicated policies and procedures covering your response to infection outbreaks in your care homes. These documents should be easily accessible for all staff, and you should review them periodically to ensure they reflect current risk levels and best practice guidance.

Your policy should include:

  • A list of the most common infections in care homes, along with some of the symptoms to look out for.
  • A definition of an “outbreak”. At what point will your outbreak response plan come into effect? Also define at what point you can declare that the outbreak’s passed.
  • Immediate response – what are the most critical steps to take once you’ve declared an outbreak? Think about who you’ll inform, how you’ll inform them, and what you’ll tell them. You’ll have to brief staff, inform residents, and contact their relatives too.
  • High-risk residents – some residents might have existing conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to infection, or they might be immunosuppressed or immunocompromised.
  • Your outbreak response policy should outline how you’ll shield your most high-risk residents, such as through zoning infected residents elsewhere in the care home and temporarily restricting any time spent in shared spaces.

Staff Training for Managing Outbreaks

Your staff should receive specialist training in managing outbreaks. The training should include:

Resident Zoning and Isolation

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it became common practice to isolate any patients who might be carrying an infection risk, to reduce the chances for the infection to spread from person-to-person. Similarly, any staff members testing positive were advised to self-isolate.

Your care home infection outbreak response policy should consider resident zoning and isolation. Ideally, you should have single rooms available for emergency quarantine. And in the event of an outbreak, you should carry out an infection risk-assessment for every resident, reserving your emergency isolation and zoning procedures for the most high-risk individuals.

At the same time, you need to consider your residents’ physical and psychological wellbeing. How can you continue to deliver a high quality of care even while they’re in isolation? How will you keep the resident and their visitors informed throughout their quarantine? And crucially, how long will the isolation last? At what point will they be able to safely mix again with the rest of the care home population?

For more information, and for actionable tips for managing outbreaks in your care home, be sure to read the latest Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England guidance on infection control in care homes.

Cleaning

Cleaning is an essential part of infection prevention and control. Pathogens can survive on surfaces for hours, or even days. So regularly cleaning your care home environment can significantly reduce the risk of cross-infection.

You should already have cleaning policies and procedures in place for your care home, outlining where to clean, how to clean it, what products to use, and how often to do so. Your cleaning policy should pay particular attention to any area of your care home where residents share facilities, along with any area where food is prepared or consumed.

In the event of an outbreak, you should implement even more robust cleaning procedures. This might involve carrying out more regular cleaning or switching to using specialist cleaning products that can kill viruses and bacteria on surfaces.

Be sure to read our full guide to effective environmental decontamination for infection control.

Air Purification

As well as lingering on surfaces, the viruses and bacteria that cause infections and outbreaks in care homes can also be airborne.

Good air filtration can actively contribute to infection prevention in care homes, while helping to prevent the spread of infection during an outbreak. Air filtration can even help prevent the spread of COVID-19. One study found that an air filtration system successfully removed almost all traces of the airborne virus in a quarantine ward.

Our range of HealthProtect air purifiers are specifically designed for healthcare facilities such as care homes. They can deliver complete air filtration every 12.5 minutes, trapping and killing up to 99% of viruses and bacteria – including those responsible for all of the most common outbreaks in care homes.

We can advise on effective infection outbreak management in your care home. As well as supplying specialist healthcare air purifiers, we also stock a full range of infection control products, including the Virusolve+ range of one-step cleaner, sanitiser and disinfectant solutions.

Get in touch to discuss care home infection outbreak management with one of our friendly experts.

The Most Common Hospital Acquired Infections

/in , /by

In this post we’ll discuss some of the most common hospital acquired infections and explore the impact they can have on patient outcomes.

What is a Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI or HCAI)?

Healthcare associated infections (HAI, or HCAI) are infections staff and patients contract through spending time in healthcare settings such as GP surgeries, care homes, and hospitals.

Some of these infections can develop as a direct result of healthcare treatment. Others are communicable diseases, and can develop and spread from person-to-person, or when staff or patients come into contact with pathogens in the air or on surfaces.

The Most Common Hospital Acquired Infections

Surgical Site Infections (SSIs)

Surgical site infections (SSIs) may comprise up to 20% of all hospital acquired infections, with at least 5% of surgical patients developing a wound infection following their procedure.

They usually occur when surgical incisions are contaminated by microorganisms from the patient’s own body, though it’s also possible for patients to develop SSIs from outside sources.

Examples of SSIs include:

  • aureus
  • Salmonella
  • Shigella
  • Klebsiella
  • coli

SSIs can be life-threatening for patients, yet even mild infections can prolong hospital stays considerably. This can leave patients vulnerable to other hospital acquired infections while also creating a significant financial burden for the hospital. And when the NHS is facing such a huge backlog, anything that delays a patient’s hospital discharge should be considered a major issue.

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is a form of pneumonia, a respiratory tract infection. The infection results in lung inflammation and a build-up of fluid that can cause breathing difficulties.

All patients are vulnerable to this sort of infection, though young children and elderly patients are most at risk. Hospital-acquired pneumonia affects 0.5% to 1.0% of hospitalised patients, and it’s the most common hospital-acquired infection contributing to death.

MRSA is just one of the viruses and bacteria that can lead to hospital-acquired pneumonia. Other examples include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and certain fungi. Pneumonia acquired in hospital settings can be particularly serious, as the bacteria and viruses involved can be resistant to antibiotics.

Clostridium Difficile

Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) can lead to diarrhoea, high temperatures, low appetite, nausea, and stomach pains. Though C. diff bacteria is usually among the harmless bacteria that lives in the bowel, certain antibiotic treatments can cause a bacterial imbalance in the gut, which can trigger an infection.

As diarrhoea is a major symptom, it’s very easy for the bacteria to spread from person-to-person in a healthcare setting such as a hospital. It’s for this reason that CDIs are among the most common of all hospital-acquired infections, affecting over 100,000 patients across Europe every year.

Sepsis

Sepsis is a clinical syndrome that can be triggered by the presence of a bacterial, viral, or fungal infection. The body may respond to an infection in a way that damages its own tissues and organs, which can lead to low blood pressure and life-threatening organ dysfunction and failure.

The UK Sepsis Trust estimates that there could be up to 250,000 cases of sepsis in the UK each year. It is one of the most common causes of death among hospitalised patients in intensive care units (ICUs).

So sepsis might not be a hospital-acquired infection in itself. However, it’s a serious condition that can develop as a result of other hospital-acquired infections, including pneumonia, urinary tract infections, bowel perforations, and skin infections.

Covid-19

Since 2020, hospitals have contended with an additional threat posed by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-VoC-2, or COVID-19).

One report found that, during the pandemic, more than 40,600 people were likely infected with Covid-19 while being treated in hospital in England for another reason.

Hospitals and other healthcare settings implemented strategies to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among inpatients. Some of these infection prevention and control practices may also help to prevent the spread of other hospital-acquired infections. However, this total focus on one condition may have given other pathogens an opportunity to thrive.

Controlling the Spread of Hospital-Acquired Infections

Every member of staff should follow a series of practices to reduce the risk of infection. These are known as Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs). You can read our full guide to SICPs.

At Cairn Technology, we’ve been helping both NHS and private hospitals prevent and control infections for over 20 years. Our solutions include:

Want to discuss how we can help you control infections in your hospital? Get in touch to talk to one of our friendly experts today.