What is this service?
We give advice on the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections to Bristol Community Health staff and to the people who use our services. General advice and information about infectious diseases in the community is provided by another service called The Health Protection Unit.
Bristol Community Health acknowledges its duty to protect patients, staff, carers and visitors from the risk of avoidable healthcare associated infection. We are committed to ensureing that safe working practices are utilised by those providing healthcare services to our patients.
We have in place suitable systems, processes, and robust control of infection policies and a nominated Executive Director Lead for Infection Prevention and Control, as listed in the 'our team' section below. This makes us compliant with the requirements of the Health and Social care Act (2008) Code of Practice for the NHS on the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections and Related Guidance. You can download a copy of this Act and also of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guidance on Preventing Infections in Community Patients from the 'Document Downloads' section on the left of this page.
Who is this service for?
- Bristol Community Health staff
- Users of services provided by Bristol Community Health
Our Infection Prevention and Control Team
Our Infection Prevention and Control Team are based at: South Plaza, Marlborough Street, Bristol, BS1 3NX. The team members are:
- Aileen Fraser - Director of Quality & Assurance / Medical Director and Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC)
- Debra Nicholson and Wendy Briggs - Infection Prevention and Control Specialist Practitioners
- Tracy Evans - Admin Support
The teams working hours and contact details are:
Wendy Briggs
- Hours:
Monday: 9am - 5pm
Tuesday: 9am - 6pm
Wednesday: 9am - 2:30pm
Thursday: 9am - 5pm
[email protected]
0117 900 2622
Debra Nicholson
- Hours: Tuesday - Friday: 8am - 4pm
- [email protected]
- 0117 900 2607
Johnny Coyle
- Hours: Monday - Friday 8am - 4.30pm
- [email protected]
- 0117 984 1672
Information on specific infections
Scarlet Fever
Scarlet Fever tends to be more common in the winter and spring, and peaks around end of March or early April. Scarlet fever is mainly a childhood disease and is most common between the ages of two and eight years it is usually treated with antibiotics. To stop the spread of the infection, children with scarlet fever should not go to their childminder, nursery or school until they feel better, and have had 24hrs of antibiotic treatment.
An information leaflet produced by Public health England is available here: www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1317140949203
Other
Information on specific infections such as Clostridium Difficile, MRSA and Norovirus is available to download in our 'Document Downloads' section on the left side of this page.
Hand washing
Everyone can help stop the spread of infections by cleaning their hands properly at the right times.
It is especially important that people who are caring for their own, or someone else's medical devices or wounds know about good hand hygiene.
They should expect to get information about this from their healthcare professional.
The Infection Prevention and Control Team have also produced a leaflet which explains the "how, when and what with" of hand hygiene which is available from the downloads section at the bottom of the page.
It also tells people about some of the standards that they should expect from healthcare professionals who are caring for them and reminds them that It's OK to ask" if they think their healthcare professional has forgotten to clean their hands.
Return to page.