Healthcare Policies and Practices: Hand Hygiene and Safety Report

This report examines the health and hygiene policies implemented by the National Health Service (NHS) of England, focusing on their impact within healthcare facilities, particularly Graceland Day Care. It details the importance of hand hygiene in preventing infections and promoting a safe environment for both patients and healthcare professionals. The report identifies the relevant legislation, specifically the Health and Social Care Act 2008, and discusses the consequences of non-compliance with hand hygiene policies, including the increased risk of infections and potential patient fatalities. Furthermore, it outlines the role of the Infection Prevention and Control Team (IPCT) in monitoring and supervising these policies through audits and communication with relevant authorities. The report concludes by emphasizing the necessity of adhering to hand hygiene policies to maintain a secure and sustainable environment within healthcare settings. References include books, journals, and online resources related to healthcare policies and practices.

Policies and Practices

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE..............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................1
2.2 & 3.2 The impact of health and safety policies and legislation........................................1
2.4 The legislation in which hand hygiene policy comes under and effect of non compliance
of hand hygiene policy...........................................................................................................2
3.1 Monitoring and supervising hand hygiene policy............................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

TITLE
“Policies and practices regarding health and safety which are being followed by the health care
organisation and day care centres”
INTRODUCTION
National Health Services (NHS) of England is dedicated towards creating a positive and
inclusive working environment and culture by implementing effective health and hygiene
policies which are mandatory to be followed by health care professionals (Adisesh and et.al.,
2013). In this context, the report will examine the health and hygiene policy and its impacts on
the individuals who are experiencing particular healthcare facilities. The health and safety
legislation in which hand hygiene policy comes under will be identifies and its impact will be
discussed with respect to Graceland Day Care centre. Further, the explanation will be provided in
this report regarding the supervision of hand hygiene policy being followed in the healthcare
organisation or not.
TASK 2
2.2 & 3.2 The impact of health and safety policies and legislation
In order to provide quality healthcare services to the patients and control spread of
infections, it is essential for the healthcare professionals and practitioners to follow the hand
hygiene formulated by National Health Service, England. This helps in elimination of infections
and assists in providing high quality of treatments which can reduce the risk in increasing
infections that can lead to severe sickness or even death (Chartier, 2014). It provides benefits to
the health and social care centres like Graceland Day Care Centre. By eliminating the chances of
rise in infections, healthcare professionals of day care centre are able to promote a positive,
healthy and safe culture in the organisation.
It is mandatory for the clinical staff and day care providers to strictly follow the code and
policy so that the risk can be eliminated and effectiveness in treatments can be increased
simultaneously. It is the responsibility of the management and staff to make follow the hand
hygiene policy in order to eliminate spreading of infections like Meticillin resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (Green and Kane, 2014). Thus, it
implies that hand hygiene policy positively impacts on the healthcare professionals and
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Graceland Day Care Centre. It is important for management of Graceland Day Care centre to
consider the importance of legislation and act on the behalf of it. This will help the management
to improve the performance of healthcare professionals and promote good, healthy and safe
culture in the organisation. In order to create a sustainable and healthy environment in the day
care centre and giving patients and individuals a healthy experience, the health care organisations
must follow the hand hygiene policies efficiently. This will aid in promoting sustainable and safe
environment.
2.4 The legislation in which hand hygiene policy comes under and effect of non compliance of
hand hygiene policy.
Hand Hygiene policy comes under Health and Social Care Act 2008 (HAND HYGIENE
POLICY. 2017). Non-compliance of hand hygiene policy in Graceland Day care centre can
increase the chances of increasing and spreading infections from patient to staff. This will
negatively impact on the healthcare professionals as if they do not wash their hands after making
contact with patients then the patient disease might transferred to the healthcare professionals
(Loveday and et.al., 2014). It is mandatory for the clinical and other healthcare professionals to
consider the importance of hand hygiene policy so that they can eliminate the risk and eventually
promote healthy and safe culture in the organisation. It is the duty and responsibility of
management of Graceland Day care centre to make healthcare professionals and practitioners
aware of hand wash practices so that risk of spreading infections can be eliminated efficiently.
Non-compliance of this legislation will result in devastating conditions as the infections can be
increased and chances of death in patients can be promulgate. Thus, it is essential for the
management and staff to consider the importance of the legislation and strictly follow in order to
eliminate the risk efficiently.
3.1 Monitoring and supervising hand hygiene policy
Health and safety policies and practices such as hand hygiene policy are monitored by
Infection Prevention and Control Team. The team is responsible for carrying out environmental
audit of healthcare organisations (Zingg and et.al., 2015). This will aid in acquiring the
information that whether the health and safety policies are being followed in the organisations or
not. Further, Infection Prevention and Control Team (IPCT) will on daily basis check availability
of alcohol hand gel and hand cleaning facilities when they visit clinical areas and is responsible
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to communicate the issue to respecting authority. Further, the team is responsible to conduct
three hand hygiene audits per year in every clinical areas (Stocks and et.al., 2015). The action
plan is developed by the team which helps and guide the line manager of the clinic to eradicate
the issues that affects the healthcare organisation. It is very important for the team to analyse the
issues and address to the respective authority in order to eliminate the rise of infections. The
Infection Prevention and Control team can charge any members or staff who found non-
compliance of the policies and legislation related with health and safety (Hand Hygiene Policy,
2017). Thus, in order to promote healthy and safe environment in the healthcare organisation,
Infection Prevention and Control team works diligently and monitor effectively that health and
safety legislations are being followed by the organisations or not.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be understood that hand hygiene policy helps the
management and healthcare professionals to reduce the risk of increasing infections in the
healthcare organisation. In this context, this report aid in analysing the impact of hand hygiene in
the Graceland Day Care centre. The effects of implementation of this policy has been discussed.
Further, the impacts of non-compliance of hand hygiene policy has been assessed in this report.
The role of Infection Prevention and Control Team has been analysed in the following
assignment. It can be said that healthcare organisations must implement and follow the hand
hygiene policy in order to promote safe and sustainable environment in the healthcare
organisations.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adisesh, A., and et.al., 2013. UK standards of care for occupational contact dermatitis and
occupational contact urticaria. British Journal of Dermatology. 168(6). pp.1167-1175.
Chartier, Y. ed., 2014. Safe management of wastes from health-care activities. World Health
Organization.
Green, R.M. and Kane, K., 2014. The effective enforcement of HACCP based food safety
management systems in the UK. Food control, 37, pp.257-262.
Loveday, H.P. and et.al., 2014. epic3: national evidence-based guidelines for preventing
healthcare-associated infections in NHS hospitals in England. Journal of Hospital
Infection. 86. pp.S1-S70.
Stocks, S.J. and et.al., 2015. The impact of national‐level interventions to improve hygiene on
the incidence of irritant contact dermatitis in healthcare workers: changes in incidence
from 1996 to 2012 and interrupted times series analysis. British Journal of
Dermatology. 173(1). pp.165-171.
Zingg, W. and et.al., 2015. Hospital organisation, management, and structure for prevention of
health-care-associated infection: a systematic review and expert consensus. The Lancet
Infectious Diseases. 15(2). pp.212-224.
Online
Hand Hygiene Policy. 2017. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.29490!/file/HandHygienePolicy.pdf
>
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