- Accident and Emergency Department
- Acute Medicine
- Audiology
- Behçet’s Syndrome National Centre of Excellence
- Bereavement Services
- Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre
- Blood tests
- Bowel Cancer Screening
- Breast Screening
- Breast Unit
- Cancer Services
- Cancer Support Services
- Cardiology
- Care management
- Children’s Community Nursing
- Children’s Community Therapies
- Clinical Toxicology
- Community rehabilitation
- Community Rehabilitation Facilities
- Community Respiratory
- Community Ward D43
- Connected Palliative Care
- Continence
- Critical Care
- Dermatology
- Diabetes
- District nursing
- Ear, nose and throat
- Elderly Care
- Endoscopy
- Female Genital Mutilation Service
- FINCH Service
- Foot Health
- Gastroenterology
- General Surgery
- Gynaecological cancer
- Gynaecological Cancer – Genetic Testing
- Gynaecology
- Health Visiting
- Heart failure
- Homeless Team
- Imaging
- Immunology and allergy
- Infant Feeding Team
- Infection Control
- Integrated Care Services (iCares)
- Lung Health Checks
- Maternity
- Neonatal Unit
- Neurology
- Neurophysiology
- Nuclear Medicine
- Nutrition and Dietetics
- Orthotics
- Paediatric Allergy Service
- Paediatrics
- Pain Management
- Pathology
- Pharmacy
- Physiotherapy (Community Musculoskeletal) Service
- Plastic Surgery
- Post-Menopausal Bleeding Clinic
- Research & Development (R&D)
- Respiratory
- Respiratory Physiology
- Rheumatology
- Sandwell Sexual Health Services
- School Nursing
- Sickle Cell & Thalassaemia
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Stroke Care
- Tissue Viability
- Transition and Young People
- Trauma and Orthopaedics
- Urology
- Vascular Day Surgery
- Virtual Wards
- Volunteer Service
- Wheelchair services
- Young Parents Maternity Service
- Accident and Emergency Department
- Acute Medicine
- Audiology
- Behçet’s Syndrome National Centre of Excellence
- Bereavement Services
- Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre
- Blood tests
- Bowel Cancer Screening
- Breast Screening
- Breast Unit
- Cancer Services
- Cancer Support Services
- Cardiology
- Children’s Community Nursing
- Clinical Toxicology
- Community Rehabilitation Facilities
- Community Ward D43
- Connected Palliative Care
- Critical Care
- Dermatology
- Diabetes
- Ear, nose and throat
- Elderly Care
- Endoscopy
- Female Genital Mutilation Service
- FINCH Service
- Gastroenterology
- General Surgery
- Gynaecological cancer
- Gynaecological Cancer – Genetic Testing
- Gynaecology
- Health Visiting
- Homeless Team
- Imaging
- Immunology and allergy
- Infection Control
- Integrated Care Services (iCares)
- Lung Health Checks
- Maternity
- Neonatal Unit
- Neurology
- Neurophysiology
- Nuclear Medicine
- Nutrition and Dietetics
- Orthotics
- Paediatric Allergy Service
- Paediatrics
- Pain Management
- Pathology
- Pharmacy
- Plastic Surgery
- Post-Menopausal Bleeding Clinic
- Research & Development (R&D)
- Respiratory
- Respiratory Physiology
- Rheumatology
- Sandwell Sexual Health Services
- Sickle Cell & Thalassaemia
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Stroke Care
- Transition and Young People
- Trauma and Orthopaedics
- Urology
- Vascular Day Surgery
- Virtual Wards
- Volunteer Service
Infection Control
As a Trust, we are committed to having plans in place to minimise infections and ensure that we have the right resources to protect patients, their relatives, staff and visiting members of the public from the risk of infection when they attend our sites and when they use our services. The Trust must comply with the Health and Social Care Act 2008: Code of practice on the prevention and control of infections, known as the Hygiene Code (updated 2022).
The Trust has a dedicated Infection Prevention and Control team which is headed by the Director of Infection Prevention and Control who is also the Chief Nursing Officer. The team is:
- Constantly improving the way we work to reduce infections that could be acquired in hospital
- Monitoring infections that happen, supporting staff so they can take action to ensure the patient is nursed correctly and to prevent spread of infection
- Educating and training staff, with bespoke training when needed
- Producing Infection Prevention and Control policies in line with national guidelines
- Auditing policies in practice to ensure compliance with best practice and the Hygiene Code.
How you can help us
Keeping your hands clean by washing them properly is the most important and best way to reduce the spread of infections. It’s important to use the right technique, with either alcohol-based hand rub or sanitiser, or soap. Water is really important. The video featured in the link below shows you the best way to wash your hands:
How to wash your hands – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
When you visit our sites, you are also encouraged to use the sanitiser stations which are situated at the entrance to wards and departments. Our staff are required to clean their hands before and after direct patient contact, before an aseptic task, after exposure to blood or body fluids and after contact with a patient’s immediate surroundings. They are also required to clean their hands when entering and leaving the hospital and ward areas. We will always welcome and support patients and visitors to challenge our staff if they see them not cleaning their hands appropriately.
Click the following link to find out more about visiting: www.swbh.nhs.uk/patients-visitors/while-you-are-here/visiting/
Services
What to expect if you are admitted to one of our hospitals
MRSA Screening
Meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a bug that is resistant to some of the commonly used antibiotics used to treat infection. Due to this it is sometimes referred to as a ‘superbug’.
Information on MRSA can be found here MRSA – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
When you are admitted to hospital as an emergency, you will probably be screened for MRSA. A nurse will take a swab, which looks like a long cotton bud, and will gently insert into your nose and then send the swab to the laboratory for testing. Other swabs may be taken from other parts of your body such as the groin or any damaged skin or wounds.
If the MRSA is present, this does not mean you have an infection, it means only that you are carrying MRSA on your skin. If MRSA is found, you will be given ointment for the inside of your nose and a body wash to help remove it or at least reduce it on your skin. This helps to reduce the likelihood of the MRSA causing an infection for example getting into your blood stream or into a wound.
If you are having surgery that is planned, an MRSA screen is undertaken as part of your pre-assessment visit. If MRSA is found, you will be given ointment for your nose and body wash to help reduce the presence of MRSA on your skin before your operation. When you are admitted to hospital for surgery, you may be placed in a single room. This allows us to contain and control the bug and prevent them from spreading.
Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) Screening
Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) are a family of bacteria that usually live harmlessly in the gut. This is known as colonisation and someone who is colonised is known as a carrier. There is no way to know if you are colonised without being tested. If you are colonised with CPE, it does not usually cause any problems. However, if the bacteria move to the bladder or bloodstream, they can cause an infection and the risk is increased for those patients with a low immune system. This can be a problem, as there are very few antibiotics available to treat an infection with CPE, making them difficult to treat.
CPE can be spread from person to person, via the hands of staff, via other patients and visitors, and by touching surfaces and equipment around the bedside that might have CPE on them. They are not spread through the air or by coughing or sneezing.
Everyone, including patients, staff and visitors can help prevent the spread of CPE by
- Having their sleeves rolled up above their elbows
- Washing hands with soap and water when entering and leaving wards at our hospitals
- Helping patients wash their hands with soap and water or use hand wipes before eating meals and after going to the toilet
- Washing hands with soap and water before and after helping a patient with their personal care
Patient Information
Patient Information
Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci ML5005
Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamases ML5004
Group A Streptococcal Infection (ML5295)
Washing patients laundry at home ML5331
Tuberculosis (TB) ML5453
Norovirus
You can read more about norovirus here: Norovirus (ML5460) or by going to www.nhs.uk/conditions/norovirus/
Clostridium difficile – Clostridium difficile (C. diff) – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) – MRSA – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Influenza – Flu – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Tuberculosis – Tuberculosis (TB) – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Contacts
For more information please call the Infection Prevention and Control team on: 0121 507 5900, or alternatively contact our lead nurse or doctor below:
David Shakespeare
Deputy Director for Infection Prevention and Control
dshakespeare@nhs.net
Dr Mark Li
Consultant Microbiologist and Infection Prevention and Control Doctor
mark.li@nhs.net