ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Tork, Essity's global professional hygiene brand, has partnered with the Infection Prevention Society (IPS) and global service provider Sodexo to launch an Environment, Cleaning and Decontamination (ECD) programme to support infection prevention practitioners as they tackle the spread of infections in healthcare settings.

The new ECD programme will improve best practices and prevent healthcare associated infections throughout the patient's journey. It also seeks to educate the infection prevention control community at a time when it is essential; they feel engaged and valued. The programme will involve several highly respected infection prevention and microbiology experts.

The programme will include a free to attend conference on November 23 which will feature expert industry speakers and result in a series of ongoing workgroups. Throughout the year, there will be a series of meetings held to further develop the programme both in the UK and overseas, with the potential to involve international societies to extend the reach of the initiative.

Thomas Bergin, marketing director for healthcare at Essity Professional Hygiene said: "Tork is proud to partner with IPS and co-sponsor Sodexo for this important new educational pillar. The programme will offer the infection prevention community a platform to collaborate, share and learn advanced skills in environment, cleaning and decontamination - including support for effective surface cleaning and hand hygiene."

The IPS is the premier professional organisation in Europe for nurses involved in infection prevention and control. Its president Jennie Wilson added: "IPS is delighted to be able to work in collaboration with Sodexo and Tork in making the Environment, Cleaning and Decontamination Programme available to IPS members along with cleaning managers, facilities managers and those responsible for decontamination.

"Environmental cleaning has always been a critical component in driving excellent patient satisfaction outcomes."

Sodexo Healthcare director of strategy Simon Lilley concluded: "For many years Sodexo has worked by the side of NHS hospitals creating safe healthcare environments so this partnership demonstrates our ongoing commitment to harnessing the power of data, science and best practice to advancing infection prevention so we can create better patient and staff experiences, improve clinical outcomes and ultimately improve flow by reducing delayed discharges."