Wexford Primary Care Centre join in HSE’s national "RESIST" hand hygiene campaign

The HSE’s national "RESIST" hand hygiene campaign had a demonstration launch recently in the Wexford Primary Care Centre.

The HSE Dublin and South East Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Nursing Team and Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) Team organised and promoted the RESIST day, with the aim of supporting and educating colleagues on hand hygiene and to promote Anti-Microbial Resistance and Infection Control (AMRIC) and “RESIST”.

RESIST is a brand for several hand hygiene and infection prevention and control initiatives under the HSE Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control Programme (AMRIC). One of these initiatives is the 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 on Grogan’s Rd. in the town, the Wexford Primary Care Centre opened there in 2018. The 3,715 square metres building replaced the adjacent former county clinic premises. The Primary Care Centre features a medical practice clinic, various consultation rooms, offices and treatment areas and 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 Co. Wexford.  

Speaking about the RESIST launches in the Wexford Primary Care Centre,  Louisa Doyle (Senior Speech and Language Therapist/Wexford area, HSE) said,

“Cleaning your hands properly, at the correct time, when delivering care to our clients, is the most effective way to stop the spread of many infections including COVID-19. When healthcare workers like the multidisciplinary staff in the primary care centre 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.”

“Wexford Primary Care 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”

Kerensa McRedmond (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 healthcare facilities in the Co. Wexford have taken part in promoting such an important programme”