Hello I'm Claire Haill, I'm the director and nurse consultant for infection prevention control
university hospitals. And how long have you been in that role? Since January as the director
and as nurse consultant um for the last 14 years. I think infection control
is important because it's safety and a safety aspect of care it involves all patients pathways
the whole of their journey you know whether it's pre-assessment elective come in for an emergency
and it not only affects the clinical care they receive but also the environment that they're in.
I like the investigation side so if a patient does develop an infection then how that might
have happened and most importantly how we could avoid it happening in the future for somebody else
and the the learning if someone has developed an infection is there something we can do?
Is there a policy we can change? Can we make something simpler for staff to follow or is
there an aspect where we could sort of do patient education so patients are a part of
reducing the rate of infection. I don't think the principles of infection control have changed for
many many years, hand hygiene has got to be high up on the on the scale but I think also
the environment just the the condition and the cleanliness of the environment are so
important to maintain a good tidy environment for staff to work in for patients to be treated in.
You were a critical part of the hospital's response to COVID, what was that time like?
I think it was well, certainly was challenging it was hard work there was a lot of things that
had to change very quickly we had to learn things new things maybe adapt our approaches
so those were sort of the challenges but also they were quite exciting times as well
and that I think really because we had to work very differently with a lot of staff that perhaps
wouldn't have engaged um with inflection control team as such on a day-to-day basis they might
have been aware of us and likewise we might have been aware of them but I think we had to work with
different groups of staff more closely in order to review different patient pathways to
maintain services wherever possible and to adapt that's probably the word of the for two years
adapting um was was absolutely crucial there was no way that we knew everything
and what kept you going throughout those two and still ongoing very difficult years
just that thought that actually everyone is making a difference and if we're working
together we will make a difference a bigger difference because nobody can do
all of this on their own and I think having the opportunity to talk through the plans
and then review what's happened to see whether or not we could adapt it again for
the next wave or you know actually going into an endemic phase is what we're trying to do now.
And finally what has worked well for you in your career what would your tip be for others?
I just I'm well I suppose I'm a hard worker I'm diligent in what I do but I do enjoy it I do think
there's a purpose and I think if you believe in that then you will do your best at all times.