Accreditation practice pointer: infection control

GP4.1 A Our practice has at least one clinical team member who has primary responsibility for infection control.

RACGP Standards for general practice.

General practice has the responsibility of protecting patients and the practice team from infection.

There must be processes in place to support infection prevention and control, whereby reducing the risk of infection spreading between patients and practice team members.

This can be achieved by having at least one clinical team member responsible for infection prevention and control policy and processes.

This must be a documented position, and the other practice team members must understand and respect their colleague’s responsibility to ensure clear lines of accountability are maintained.

There should also be a thorough policy and procedure manual on infection prevention and control.

The practice’s infection control processes must include:

  • hand hygiene

  • provision of sterile instruments

  • environmental cleaning

  • spills management

  • practice team immunisations, which must also be documented with their permission.

  • educating the practice team.

Practice teams can further support the Criterion by discussing changes to laws and guidelines relating to infection control, local outbreaks and public health alerts at practice team meetings. These discussions need to be documented.

Margot Schoonmaker