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Infectious diseases can spread from one individual to another. As with all illnesses, prevention is better than cure. In order to receive safe and effective care, the process of infection prevention and control must be part of the daily routine and everybody should follow the routine.
Employers and workers have a responsibility to ensure that all possible steps are taken to prevent the spread of infections. Good hygiene practices should be adopted at the setting. The best protection for infection prevention is hand washing and workers should set a good example for the children by ensuring that they take pride in their appearance and their personal hygiene. Employers need to ensure that workers make use of personal protective equipment to prevent the spread of infection. Workers must be aware of the instructions to follow in order to dispose of waste safely.
Public Health Wales' Health Protection Team are working closely with healthcare professionals to monitor infections and diseases in order to discover information about public health. Health partners such as health visitors, nurses, doctors and dentists have a responsibility for the health of children and this may be promoted by raising parents/carers' awareness of the importance of vaccinating their children at specific times.
Despite best efforts, infections and diseases will sometimes start in a setting and procedures must be in place to record and notify the authorities of infections and diseases amongst children and staff. This will all ensure that the workplace has effective policies and procedures for infection prevention and control.
Every setting should have a health and safety policy in place stating how it will dispose of hazardous waste. In order to prevent the spread of infection, body waste such as blood, faeces, urine or saliva must be treated with care.
When disposing of waste, the following must be ensured:
According to the 'Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Work Regulations 1992', employers are responsible for ensuring that appropriate equipment is available. Personal protective equipment will protect workers from the risks associated with health and safety. Equipment within a childcare setting may include disposable gloves and disposable aprons. Equipment must be checked regularly in order to ensure it is in good working order and ready to be used in an emergency. PPE should be used when coming into any contact with blood and/or other bodily fluids. Equipment should not be shared between different children. It should also be stored in a clean and dry place with easy access for staff but out of reach of children. It should be disposed of correctly in accordance with the setting's policy, and hands should be washed before wearing PPE and afterwards.
You should not:
Immunisation is a method of protecting babies, children and young people against potentially very dangerous infectious diseases. Every child's immunisation status should be checked before starting school and during the periods when children are vaccinated.
Health partners such as health visitors, nurses or doctors must ensure that parents/carers are aware of the importance of immunisation and they should be encouraged to take their children for the appropriate vaccinations. Although parents/carers have the right to choose whether or not to consent to immunisation for their children, health partners have a duty to ensure that each child in the United Kingdom is invited to have their vaccinations. It is important that the setting keeps correct records of children's vaccinations.
According to the 'Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013', workers in early years or childcare settings have a duty to report accidents, occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences in the workplace. The record book will need to be completed and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or the Care Inspectorate will need to be informed if appropriate.
Workers should be aware that children, as well as workers, are susceptible to infectious diseases and that they have a responsibility to keep each child at the setting safe. The setting's policy on how to record infectious illnesses and diseases must be followed. If a child or member of staff at the setting falls ill, it should be recorded immediately. The following is an example of an illness recording form. There is a full list of notifiable diseases with guidelines with regard to how long a child should be kept off school following an infection or illness. The time will vary according to the disease.
Name of Child / Staff Member | Date of Birth | Start Date of Symptoms | End Date of Symptoms | Symptoms | Action Taken | Date of Notification for EHOs / HPT |
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Health Protection Team (HPT) Environmental Health Officers (EHO) (National Health Service, 2017)
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The environment should be kept clean for the children to prevent the spread of infection. Children will play and socialise with many other children and are susceptible to a much higher number of germs than at home. Infections may spread between children and adults as well as from one child to another. Although contact with germs cannot be fully eliminated, the setting can ensure it is hygienic in order to minimise the risk that children will contract infectious diseases. Every early years and childcare setting should have a written policy in place explaining how this will be achieved.
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Personal hygiene is one of the most important things with regard to ensuring that young children stay healthy. Personal hygiene includes hand washing, having a bath or shower, washing hair and brushing teeth. Young children will need help from an adult to learn to keep themselves clean. It is important to adopt high standards of hygiene in order to develop life skills and to help prevent the spread of infection. It is important that adults teach children about the importance of good hygiene.
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This will all allow the children to develop independently and to understand the importance of good hygiene practice.
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Infections are mainly transmitted by the hands as hands come into contact with so many things that may contain germs. If hands are not washed after such contact, the germs will spread.
The importance of hand washing should be discussed with the children and they should be shown when to do so and how to do so correctly. It is important that they are regularly supervised. Placing posters in hand washing areas is useful to remind the children of the technique and the steps to follow.
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