Why is Infection Control so important?

The COVID-19 pandemic in the last few years has certainly allowed the general public to understand more about how Infection Control is vital to help prevent the spread of harmful pathogens.

A lot of people who don’t work in healthcare or cleaning sectors, where infection control is a daily practice, often need more information to properly understand and start using proper decontamination/sanitisation processes in their daily routine. In the day and age where masks and regular hand sanitisation is a must, a lot of people ask the question: Why is infection control so important?

What is Infection Control?

The phrase Infection Control relates to the set of methods that are used to control and prevent the spread of disease. Infection Control can come in many forms, from the procedures that are used to make sure a space is properly disinfected, to the specific products being used within those procedures.

These ‘procedures’ can even be as small as sanitising your hands when you leave a supermarket or public space. Any method that relates to the disinfection of any surface, including skin, is Infection Control.

This may seem self-explanatory, but Infection Control practices aren’t just used by healthcare professionals in Hospitals and Care Homes, it should be used by everybody to help lower infection rates and even help save lives.

So, why is it so important?

Essentially, Infection Control is so important because it revolves around people’s lives. Without proper infection control, lives could be needlessly lost to dangerous diseases and infections.

How can I make sure I’m practising the best Infection Control I can?

Some of the best practices for the general public to help prevent the spread of infections are:

Regularly wash hands after using the toilet, when you get home from being in public, and after you cough or sneeze into your hands.
Carry a clinically proven hand sanitiser with you at all times if possible, using it as frequently as you can after you touch foreign public surfaces such as supermarket goods or doors.
Using the correct procedures when cooking to prevent crosscontamination of harmful germs. Keep raw and cooked meat separate and use a different knife and cutting board to cut meat and vegetables. This will help to keep you and your family safe from food poisoning.
Cough or sneeze into either a tissue or your armpit to ensure no harmful germs are spread. If you happen to cough or sneeze into your hands, wash them immediately with soap and warm water.
Regularly disinfect surfaces and door handles in shared spaces throughout your home or workspace.
These practices, while seemingly many, hardly take up much more time than when not using them but could have catastrophic results.
To put into perspective, it is theorised that 5,500 NHS Patients died from E.coli in 2015. These deaths could have been prevented from patients and visitors, and even staff, following the steps above.
To find out more about Infection Control, take a look at our News section on our website.