Epic 2: National Evidence-Based Guidelines for Preventing Healthcare-Associated Infections in NHS Hospitals in England

The first national evidence-based guidelines for preventing healthcare-associated infections in National Health Service hospitals in England were published following extensive consultation in January 2001 The Department of Health commissioned a review of new evidence published following the last systematic review (2001) and this has been used to update the evidence base for making these recommendations. The updated guidelines provide comprehensive recommendations for preventing HCAI in hospitals and other acute settings based on best currently available evidence. The guidelines are broad principles of best practice which need to be integrated into local practice guidelines and key audit criteria have been included to monitor implementation. The guidelines describe the precautions healthcare workers should take in three areas: - 1. Standard principles for preventing healthcare-associated infections in hospital and other acute settings 2. Guidelines for preventing infections associated with the use of short-term urethral catheters 3. Guidelines for preventing infections associated with the use of central venous catheters. These updated national guidelines provide comprehensive reccomendations for preventing HCAI in hospitals and other acute care settings based on the best currently available evidence. They also include a suggested agenda for further research in each section of the guidelines. These guidelines can be appropriately adapted and used by all hospital practitioners.