Insight Webinar with IPC Partners - How to tackle water hygiene risks in hospitals
Aired on 04 March 2026
In this Insight Webinar, Dr Jessica Martin, explores how healthcare organisations can recognise, assess and manage water and wastewater hygiene risks in hospitals.
This webinar is aimed at:
Infection Prevention & Control professionals - Microbiologists - Estates and engineering teams - Facilities and cleaning teams - Clinical leaders and patient safety teams - Anybody with an interest in water hygiene in healthcare
Speaker: Dr Jessica Martin, Consultant Microbiologist and Medical Lead for Infection Prevention at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Convenors: Dr. Jon Otter & Dr Phil Norville.
What This Webinar Covers
This session goes beyond traditional water safety approaches to examine the growing evidence linking the built environment, water systems, wastewater and antimicrobial resistance to patient safety.
Key topics covered include:
- Water hygiene risks beyond Legionella and Pseudomonas
- The role of wastewater, drainage and biofilms in AMR transmission
- Lessons from healthcare-associated outbreaks linked to water systems
- Leadership, governance and multidisciplinary working
- Practical risk assessment on wards (“putting your water goggles on”)
- Sink placement, splash risk and drainage design
- Responding to blockages, leaks and flooding events
- Training, education and the importance of professionally trained staff to clean sinks
- Reactive vs proactive water-safe care
- Challenges and unintended consequences of sink removal
- Future directions for surveillance, monitoring and hospital design
About This Webinar Series:
This is the third in a series of 11 IPC Insight Webinars running throughout 2026. All sessions are CPD‑accredited by the Royal College of Pathologists and aim to provide concise expert overviews, stimulate discussion and build a global community of infection prevention enthusiasts. You can see the programme of webinars and their Journal Club cousins here: https://ipcpartners.org/learn-with-us/