Emergency departments' infection control standards have 'slipped'

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By Storm Newton, PA Media

Hospital emergency departments in the UK have been urged to return infection prevention and control to the “top of their agendas” or risk putting patients’ lives at risk, after a report revealed standards have slipped since the pandemic.

It warned that both staff and patients are still at risk from contracting Covid-19 and called on healthcare workers to get vaccinated against the virus, as well as getting their flu jabs.

The three-year quality improvement programme (QIP) by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) gathered data on more than 65,000 patients across 127 emergency departments.

It probed the level of screening across three categories, including tests for Covid-19.

It also examined screening in those with so-called “vulnerable conditions” such as being pregnant, unvaccinated or with immune system issues, and patients presenting with the likes of diarrhoea, vomiting an unexplained rash and fever.

The report found the national average of patients being screened when attending A&E was 17% last year, down from 25% in 2022.