We endorse the focus on antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) as it is essential to address the increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). However, it is primarily IPC that interrupts the transmission and spread of resistant organisms, and effective IPC practice is critical in preventing healthcare settings from acting as amplifiers of AMR. This amplification was starkly highlighted during the pandemic, reinforcing the importance of IPC, including built-environment interventions, in reducing the spread of healthcare-associated infections. Robust environmental hygiene, including effective decontamination and disinfection, supported by appropriate engineering controls and safe clinical practice, remains essential to reducing avoidable infections.

The report rightly highlights the importance of working across sectors. The infection specialist workforce needs to be multi-disciplinary, working collaboratively to prevent, diagnose, control and treat infections across the UK and globally.  This is also essential for delivery of a safe and effective IPC service in the NHS. The multi-disciplinary team (MDT) includes trained and competent medical infection specialists (infectious diseases and clinical microbiologists), infection control nurses, clinical scientists, surveillance scientists, epidemiologists, pharmacists, engineers specialising in the built environment, and experts in decontamination. Each member of this MDT plays a vital role, contributing their unique expertise to identify and mitigate IPC risks. Their collective efforts also enhance IPC visibility, influence, and advocacy within the healthcare system.

The report recommends that all clinicians need basic infection training and we endorse this. As with clinical infection, basic IPC is part of an essential knowledge base. However, the need for specialists also applies to IPC, as it does to other areas of clinical infection.  Current infection training pathways do not provide the depth of knowledge or practical experience required for expert IPC practice, particularly in complex areas such as decontamination, environmental microbiology, and new technologies. Therefore, advanced training is required.

Many highly experienced IPC doctors and nurses are heading to retirement, or have already left the workforce, and many trusts are struggling to recruit the necessary expertise into their IPC teams.  It is therefore essential that we actively train and develop the next generation of IPC experts.  Formal recognition of IPC as a defined clinical specialty, with a structured career pathway and enhanced training opportunities, would support recruitment, retention, and long-term workforce resilience. This would clearly benefit patients and, recognising the substantial cost of healthcare-associated infections, would also benefit organisations and the NHS as a whole.

The Healthcare Infection Society is committed to advocating for and developing the IPC workforce, increasing expertise and promoting high quality and evidence-based practice. We already have a range of educational programmes in place and are ready to work with key partners to create and deliver IPC training that equips healthcare teams, right through from novices to experts. It is essential that IPC is recognised as a critical part of high-quality clinical care and a vital element of strategies to control AMR. 

Find links below to the CMO's Annual Report alongside initiatives at HIS to combat the threat of AMR.