Public Health and Wellbeing

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

Care home conference

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I always welcome the opportunity to visit the National Botanic Garden of Wales so was delighted to be invited to discuss how the Hywel Dda’s paradigm shift in thinking about the management of healthcare associated will support our local care homes.

The conference, “Working together to promote health, wellbeing and quality of life” was opened by Sarah Rochira, Older People’s Commissioner for Wales where she discussed elements of her care home review, “A place to call home?”

I was struck by her messages around the wellbeing agenda for older people in our community and what “good” looked like in those … Read the rest

A paradigm shift in thinking

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I’m pleased to see that the Hywel Dda Health Board’s new strategic direction for the management of Healthcare Associated Infections is available to view on their Internet site.  The paper that outlines the proposals is

“Reducing HCAI through a paradigm shift in thinking: The Law of Multiple Small Positive Returns”

I wrote this paper for the board’s Quality and Safety Committee, which considered them in June, following a series of meetings that started in December 2013.  The Quality and Safety Committee is one of the Statutory Committees of the board and the complete suite of documents are available … Read the rest

When transparency is opaque

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I’m struck by the desire of the Welsh Government Health Department to encourage Health Boards in Wales to increase transparency in relation to Healthcare Associated Infection, which is commendable but as my title suggests, if we are not careful, may confuse our local population and in the worst case scenario, lead to anxiety.

As regular readers will be aware, I have a long abiding concern over the harms we can inflict on our patients and their relatives and said much in this area in my article, “Should I be worried about Healthcare Associated Infections“.   I became very interested … Read the rest

Blood cultures: an important test

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One of the most important microbiological investigations we undertake is the blood culture.   This is because blood does not normally have bacteria swimming around in it and therefore unlike from non-sterile sites, we can view any organism from a blood culture as potentially serious.

That said, as with any test we undertake, the opportunity for a sample to become contaminated is ever present.  This is just as true for blood culture because the sample is taken from a vein and access to the vein is via a needle through the skin.  Skin is not sterile but is home to many … 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