Infection Prevention and Control

Purpose of the 'Annual statement'

The Health and Social Care Act 2008: code of practice on the prevention and control of infection and related guidance requires the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Lead to produce an annual statement.  This statement should be made available for anyone who wishes to see it, including patients and regulatory authorities and should also be published on the provider’s website.

Introduction

This Annual statement has been drawn up on 28th February 2026 in accordance with the requirement of the Health and Social Care Act 2008: code of practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance for University of Bristol Dental School.  It summarises:

  1. Infection transmission incidents and actions taken
  2. IPC audits undertaken and subsequent actions implemented
  3. Risk assessments undertaken and any actions taken for prevention and control of infection
  4. Staff training
  5. Review and update of Infection Prevent & Control (IPC) policies, procedures and guidelines
  6. Antimicrobial prescribing and stewardship

This statement has been drawn up by Lee Moran, Infection Prevent and Control Lead

1. Infection transmission incidents

There have been 64 infection control related incidents reported on our incident reporting system in the 12 months prior to issuing this statement.  None of these incidents have posed risks to patients.

  • 34 of these incidents were sharps injuries to staff or students. As an educational facility, we continue to demonstrate safe handling of needles and dental burs to our students and the importance of placing instruments carefully and appropriately on bracket tables to ensure accidents of this nature are reduced to a minimum.
  • 23 incidents relate to non-compliance with our impression disinfection standard operating procedure prior to sending impressions to the lab. Changes implemented as a result of these incidents include: the development of a clear flowchart on display in the disinfection areas of clinics, simplifying the steps required; all disinfection bag and stickers are now stored in clinic dispensaries and students are reminded of the correct procedure at the time of disinfection.  These changes have started to have a notable impact on incident numbers.
  • 4 incidents involved near misses such as burs or scalpel blades being left in instruments being sent to our sterilisation department and lack of PPE in our sterilisation department washroom. All of these incidents were addressed at the time to prevent harm and actions have been taken to reduce the likelihood of them occurring again.
  • 2 incidents in involved students not complying with the uniform policy. These were addressed with the individuals at the time.  Bristol Dental School has a robust uniform policy and we continue to reinforce and monitor compliance at daily clinic briefings.

There have been 0 significant events raised that related to infection control and 0 complaints made regarding cleanliness or infection control.

2. IPC Audits and actions

IPC audits are conducted every 6 months, with the most recent audit (prior to publishing this document) taking place in January 2025.  No issues were identified.  Clinical staff also undertake additional monthly Hand Hygiene and Sharps spot checks.

There are monthly cleaning audits carried out by our cleaning services team.  Minor issues have been identified and addressed at the time of these audits.

Our Decontamination department is also audited annually by an Authorised Engineer (Decontamination).  The most recent audit took place during February 2025 and no issues were noted.

3. Risk Assessments

Risk assessments are performed as required and are reviewed annually. The following risk assessment have been conducted in the past year and continue to be reviewed annually.

  • A Health and safety risk assessment.
  • COSHH risk assessments
  • Sharps risk assessment
  • Sterile Services risk assessment
  • Disinfection of extracted human teeth for clinical skills teaching (reviewed every 2 years)

The following have also been conducted on the dates shown:

Legionella Risk Assessment: 8-11th April; amended 18th September 2024

Pseudomonas Risk Assessment: 22-24th October 2024

All incidents are reported on our Incident management system.  As part of the investigations into incidents, risk scores are allocated and will determine whether further risk assessments are required.

4. Staff training

All clinical and technical staff are enrolled on annual IPC Level 2 training at the beginning of each academic year.  At time of writing, 77% of staff had completed the 25/26 module. Staff are encouraged to report all IPC concerns or incidents on our internal incident reporting .

 To support their roles in IPC leadership, the Head and Deputy Heads of Dental Nursing have all completed training in Leadership and Managing change through the Healthcare Infection Society.

5. IPC Policies, procedures and guidance

The IPC related policies and procedures which have been written, updated or reviewed in the last year include, but are not limited to:

  • Infection Prevention & Control Policy
  • Decontamination Policy
  • Dental Laboratory Infection Control Policy
  • Disposal of Sharps and Dental Burs Policy
  • Sharps & Needlestick Injury SOP
  • Local Hand Hygiene Policy
  • Latex Policy
  • Managing Infectious Disease Policy
  • Uniform & Dress Code Policy

Policies relating to IPC are available to all staff and students, and are reviewed and updated annually. Additionally, policies may be amended as a result of learnings from incidents, updated guidance and legislation changes, or following the sharing of best practice with other providers.

6. Antimicrobial prescribing and stewardship

Our Anti-microbial Stewardship Guardian is Chris Bell (Clinical Co-Director).

At Bristol Dental School, all clinicians play a key role in reducing antibiotic resistance by practicing antibiotic stewardship. This means not prescribing antibiotics for patients who are unlikely to suffer from bacterial infection, while ensuring the patients who do require antibiotic treatment receive the appropriate antibiotics, at the correct dose and for the proper duration.

We conduct a bi-annual Antibiotic prescribing audit, with the most recent being conducted in January 2026.  There were a number of actions identified during this audit, including the introduction of additional guidance training for staff.  All actions are either in the process of, or have already been, implemented.  The next audit is due in June 2026.

7. Priorities & Objectives for the Coming Year

To build on last year’s introduction of IPC champions on clinics, we will be hoping to enlist Student IPC champions in 2026 to encourage positive peer-to-peer behaviours.

We will continue to encourage best practice routinely at departmental briefing and raise awareness of any IPC issues or improvements at the monthly Student Academic Representation Forum.