The HES’s national "RESIST" hand hygiene campaign had launches and demonstrations recently in HSE healthcare delivery points in Cahir and Clonmel.
The HSE Dublin and South East Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Nursing Team organised and promoted the RESIST days with the aim of supporting and educate colleagues on Hand Hygiene and to promote Anti-Microbial Resistance and Infection Control (AMRIC) and the “RESIST” campaign. The education days took place in the Cahir Primary Care Centre, and both the South Tipperary Community Care Centre and South Tipperary Therapy Services Centre in Clonmel.
RESIST is a brand for a number of hand hygiene and infection prevention and control initiatives under the HSE Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control Programme (AMRIC). One of these initiatives is a rollout of the RESIST hand hygiene awareness programme. The programme promotes a combination of hand hygiene training with standardised national training materials.
Hand hygiene has been at the forefront of all of the initiatives that the HSE has been implementing to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The RESIST campaign is to refresh the HSE’s hand hygiene messages and to keep promoting the importance of clean hands.
Located at Rosemount Close, Barnora off the Cashel Road in the town, the Cahir Primary Care Centre there opened in 2021 Spanning a gross area of 1,870 square meters over two floors and featuring medical practice clinics, various consultation rooms, offices and treatment areas, the centre facilitates co-location for a multidisciplinary group of health and social care professionals to deliver primary care services to the local population in that part of South Co. Tipperary.
Formerly known as the County Clinic, the HSE’s Community Care Centre on the Western Rd. in Clonmel is a point at which many primary care services are accessed by the public. The range of services and supports provided in or administered from this building include Civil Registration, Environmental Health, Public Health Nursing, Homecare Support and Dental Services.
Situated on the HSE’s Western Rd. campus in Clonmel, the South Tipperary Therapy Services Centre includes consultation rooms and treatment areas for Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy and the Community Paediatrician, in addition to liaison nursing services and administrative support. Along with multidisciplinary team assessments and meetings, group based interventions, parent support sessions and psycho-educational workshops for other professionals and parents take place in its multi-therapy room.
Speaking about the RESIST launches in Cahir and Clonmel, Fiona McKeown (Community Health Network Manager/South Tipperary, HSE) said:
“Cleaning your hands properly, at the correct time, when delivering care to our patients, is the most effective way to stop the spread of many infections including COVID-19. When healthcare workers like doctors, nurses and carers keep their hands clean, they help prevent the spread of serious healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). These are infections that can happen in any healthcare service.”
“Cahir Primary Care Centre, South Tipperary Community Care Centre, South Tipperary Therapy Services Centre and our HSE services locally have an excellent record in hand hygiene but we are always looking to improve our standards. The RESIST programme will help us to refresh and energise our hand hygiene approach among both staff and patients and we are delighted to have been selected to be part of the rollout in Primary Care”
Michelle Hennebry (Clinical Nurse Specialist/Infection Prevention and Control, HSE) added:
“As a programme, RESIST is not just aimed at those delivering care, but at everyone who comes into a healthcare facility, including patients and visitors. We will be intensifying the campaign across the South East over the coming months and are delighted that these healthcare facilities in the South Tipperary area have taken part in promoting such an important programme”
Last updated on: 09 / 04 / 2025
