Public Health and Wellbeing

A collaboration between professionals in Microbiology and Infection Control serving West Wales

Wales the wonderful

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dinefwrbluebells This is a blatant plug to encourage you to consider coming, living and working in Wales.  I’ve been based in west Wales covering the counties of Carmarthen, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire since 1990.  While I did spend a fascinating 10 years working in Cardiff and gaining a new set of skills, my home has always been just outside Carmarthen.

Today was one of my days when I work from our hospital in Aberystwyth and it was one of those gorgeous spring days where I can enjoy seeing the red kites overhead as I drive along the coast road between Aberaeron and … Read the rest

Gamekeeper turned Poacher

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Thank YouI had minor surgery today courtesy of the Day Care Unit in Prince Phillip Hospital. Thanks for asking, it was for a small umbilical hernia and all went well. However, the point of writing this is not to play the sympathy card but to take the opportunity to reflect on how I saw the unit work from a couple of perspectives: quality and infection, prevention and control because of course, professionally, these are two areas that engage a lot of my time.

It was interesting to be able to observe first hand our health systems in operation. Systems is key … Read the rest

Following in the footsteps of Bevan?

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LearningToday has been interesting in the journey towards reducing Healthcare Associated Infection across our patch of Wales. For those of you who come here regularly to read of progress, you will be aware that the Hywel Dda University Health Board have agreed a paradigm shift in the way we think and address healthcare associated infection. The microbiology and infection prevention team were nominated by the Hywel Dda Health Board as an exemplar in the work around Prudent Healthcare being led by the Bevan Commission.

We spent the day in Cardiff at the Millenium Stadium learning about the role of the … Read the rest

All things must pass

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N0, not the standard medical joke but rather reference to the fact that after some time, I have abandoned the rather attractive old site and updated it to what you see now.  Love it or hate it, it had to happen as most people these days are looking at websites on many different platforms and screen sizes.  By finding a responsive theme (courtesy of my daughter, Eleanor and families kindness as a birthday present) what you see should be visible on smart ‘phones, tablets and all manner of screen sizes.

 

Somewhere along the way I have lost a series … Read the rest

Should I worry about Healthcare Associated Infections?

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This is a healthy question for any potential patient to ask of their medical advisors, particularly if they are about to go into hospital for some form of healthcare intervention, be it surgery or some other form of therapy.  Every potential patient should be advised of all the risks they may face – that’s part of understanding and determining their decision to proceed with the advice of their physician.

The unhealthy question is much more the specific: “Should I be worried about MRSA or C diff?”  It’s understandable that people ask about specific organisms but it is rather a failure … Read the rest

Understanding behavioural responses to infections

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The Infectious Disease Research Network held a fascinating conference on Friday 11th June entitled “Understanding behavioural responses to infectious disease outbreaks”. The programme was still available last time I looked at: www.idrn.org/events/upcoming/behavioural.php. This seemed the ideal opportunity to see if others felt there were opportunities to explore the internet technologies in getting people engaged in discussions around public health issues – something that this whole site is aiming to do.

Communicating an issue is one thing; getting people to change their behaviour is the difficult bit.  But as this web site attests, if we are to get more into … Read the rest