Infection prevention and control
These pages help you quickly find local and national guidance, tools, and resources for infection prevention and control in healthcare services.
We are currently going through a period of change as part of the NHS and Integrated Care Board (ICB) reforms. During this time, our capacity is limited, so we are prioritising essential work and bringing processes together across the new ICBs.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please continue to use the resources available on the IPC pages. If you have any urgent concerns, you can contact the team at [email protected]. We will continue to support as far as we can during this transition period.
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Contact the IPC team
The IPC team provides expert guidance and operational support for our system partners. They offer expert advice and support to manage infection risks and outbreaks. If you have questions, need to raise concerns, or require outbreak support, the team is available to co-ordinate a quick, effective response. -
IPC lead and link practitioner
The roles and responsibilities of the IPC lead or link practitioner is to act as the designated point of contact for IPC within their service or setting. They play a vital role in promoting safe practices, supporting outbreak response and embedding IPC principles into daily operations. -
IPC legislation and national guidance
Legislative and national IPC guidance provides a unified, evidence-based framework for preventing and managing infections across all health and care settings in England. It ensures consistent standards and practices to protect patients, staff and the public. -
Training, learning and development
Effective IPC education is essential for maintaining safe care environments and reducing the risk of infection transmission. Training is structured across multiple levels to support both clinical and non-clinical staff. -
Tools, posters and resources
These practical tools, posters and resources help IPC teams assess, monitor and improve IPC compliance and provide a powerful way to reinforce IPC messages in clinical and community settings. -
IPC infectious diseases
National guidance outlines clear, evidence-based IPC practices to manage communicable diseases, notifiable infectious diseases and high consequence infectious diseases. These protocols help safeguard patients, staff and the wider community across all care settings. -
External stakeholders
The IPC team collaborates with external stakeholders such as the UK Health Security Agency, local public health teams and NHS England; who provide clinical expertise, evidence-based health protection advice and epidemiological intelligence to support the delivery of IPC across health and social care settings.