Does anyone know which body controls infection control for the NHS and how it is organised at a trust level? Any advice would be much appreciated

I thought as much!!! Infection Control appears to be a mystery

John
Infection Control comes under the aspices of the DoH and RCN at a national level with NICE guidelines.
At Trust level, there is normally an Infection Control Team which is part of Nursing.

Thankyou for your response...much appreciated

John,

Do not forget the biochemists and clinical scientists who usually lead these departments. The infection control nurses just provide them with practical support in implementing the policies and procedures.
Our infection control department comes under the biochemistry department in the labs.

Robert

Robert
To clarify: Microbiology are responsible for monitoring any outbreak of infection within the hospital as well as forming a policy for the management of infection. The Infection Control Team, which comprises of Microbiology and Nursing, then carry out the policy.
However, it is the Infection Control Nurses who are responsible for monitoring the patients and ward areas to ensure compliance with the policy (eg hand washing etc.). It is this area of responsibilty that I was referring to and these nurses are part of the nursing directorate and not clinical support.
The Clinical Scientists in the team are responsible for the infection monitoring and eradication for the hospital as a whole but not on a patient basis. They report and are responsible to the head of microbiology.