Policy relevant to HAI monitoring and prevention is based on the National infection control guidelines (external website). WA Health Operational Directives and Information Circulars augment these by providing information specific to the WA setting.

The Clinical Practice Improvement Program (CPI) of SQuIRe (Safety and Quality Investment for Reform) is administered by the Office of Safety and Quality in Healthcare. Three specific HAI prevention targets are included in the CPI program surgical site infection prevention central venous catheter bloodstream infection prevention hand hygiene promotion Information is available about SQuIRe at the Office of Safety and Quality in Healthcare (external website).

The Australian Infection Control Association (AICA) is the national body for the specialist practice of infection control.

The Healthcare Associated Infection Program to be implemented by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (ACSQHC) (external website) will aim to achieve a measurable reduction in Healthcare Associated Infection. Building on facility and jurisdictional initiatives, the program proposes a national and systematic approach to infection control, hand hygiene, health care associated infections and antimicrobial resistance including antibiotic stewardship.

See ACSQHC’s Healthcare Associated Infection Program  for more details (external site)

Operational directives

Infection control operational directives

• Control of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and epidemic MRSA (EMRSA) in hospitals

• OD 0134/08 Creutzfeldt-jakob disease (CJD) screening, risk assessment and management

• Deferral of blood donation from people who have been in the United Kingdom between 1980 and 1996

• Guidelines for Health Care workers with herpes lesions

• Guidelines for the management of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in residential care facilities

• Guidelines for the management of patients with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) colonisation/infection in acute care facilities

• Guidelines for the management of patients with vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) colonisation/infection in a haemodialysis unit

• Guidelines for the management of residents with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in residential care facilities

• Management of infants at risk of early onset group B streptococcal disease (GBS)

• Management of occupational exposure to blood and body fluids in the Health Care setting

• Microbiological air sampling In operating theatres

• OD 0071/07 Healthcare - Associated infection surveillance in Western Australia

• Standard and additional infection control precautions

• Policy for Health Care workers (HCW) and mortuary staff handling dead bodies

• Prevention of early onset group B streptococcal disease (GBS) in neonates and identification of mothers who are group B streptococcal carriers

• Reprocessing of infant feeding equipment in Health Care facilities

• Operational directive - The management of MRSA clones in Western Australia that are of public health significance
  
  

Sterilisation operational directives

(Under review)

Information circulars

Resource links