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Re: Hand towels in ensuites of Residential Aged Care Facilities

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  • #75819
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Author:
    Anonymous

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    Hello Everyone,

    I am an ICP working fir a large metropolitan health service in Victoria. We currently have as part of our health service, 4 residential aged care facilities.

    We are currently in the planning stages with architects of a new public residential aged care facility. The question around hand towels in ensuites has been raised.

    The concern by planners is that not having paper towels in ensuites, will avail them with more space for storage for residents in this space. They state you would not have paper towels in your home ensuite.

    Our concern is , though a home, this is also a clinical space and for safe and best practice, staff require access to a wash basin and paper towels to perform hand hygiene if their hands are soiled.

    I would like to know how others are managing in this space.

    Kind regards,
    Lisa

    Lisa Mathieu Campbell
    Acting Associate Director
    Infection Prevention & Control Services
    Eastern Health
    Victoria

    Sent from my iPhone
    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

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    #75821
    Richard Bartolo
    Participant

    Author:
    Richard Bartolo

    Position:
    Principal Infection Prevention CNC

    Organisation:
    Western Health

    State:
    VIC

    Hi Lisa,
    Your concern is very valid. Your Healthcare facility (not a house) would not be compliant with the Australian building code Part D – Infection Prevention and Control, D.0002 – Building Elements, Revision 7.0, 01 March 2016 which specify:
    “HAND DRYING
    Single use cloth or paper towels will be provided at all hand basins. Locate towel dispensers adjacent to the
    splashback to prevent splash contamination. Dispensers should be smooth-surfaced and easy to clean to
    prevent dust or soil contamination.
    Paper towel may be used in public amenities and beverage bays.
    Hot air hand dryers are not recommended for installation in clinical areas of healthcare facilities. High speed
    hand dryers may be considered in non-clinical areas, such as public toilets.”

    Kind Regards,
    Richard
    Richard Bartolo
    Manager Infection Prevention
    Western Health
    Gordon Street, Footscray VIC 3011
    Ph. 03 8345 6113
    Email. richard.bartolo@wh.org.au
    Web. http://www.westernhealth.org.au

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    —–Original Message—–

    Hello Everyone,

    I am an ICP working fir a large metropolitan health service in Victoria. We currently have as part of our health service, 4 residential aged care facilities.

    We are currently in the planning stages with architects of a new public residential aged care facility. The question around hand towels in ensuites has been raised.

    The concern by planners is that not having paper towels in ensuites, will avail them with more space for storage for residents in this space. They state you would not have paper towels in your home ensuite.

    Our concern is , though a home, this is also a clinical space and for safe and best practice, staff require access to a wash basin and paper towels to perform hand hygiene if their hands are soiled.

    I would like to know how others are managing in this space.

    Kind regards,
    Lisa

    Lisa Mathieu Campbell
    Acting Associate Director
    Infection Prevention & Control Services
    Eastern Health
    Victoria

    Sent from my iPhone
    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

    The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.

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    ——————————————————————————

    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

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    #75820
    Michael Wishart
    Participant

    Author:
    Michael Wishart

    Position:

    Organisation:

    State:
    NSW

    Hi Lisa

    I have had this discussion with architects before. Yes, we would like a ‘home-like’ facility for residential care, too, but not at the expense of resident safety.

    Another argument I have heard is that the ensuite sink is not designated as a staff hand wash basin (leads to all sorts of discussion about appropriate size sinks and tap choices, not just provision of paper towels!). My counter argument would be where else can staff perform hand washing?… if you provide another handwash sink outside of the ensuite for staff handwashing (as if that is going to happen!), then fine, otherwise they need an appropriate handwash sink when providing care.

    Good luck, but you have some very strong guidelines on your side, so stick to first principles.

    Cheers
    Michael
    Michael Wishart | Infection Control Coordinator, CICP-E

    St Vincent’s Private Hospital Northside | 627 Rode Road CHERMSIDE QLD 4032
    T +61 7 3326 3068 | F +61 7 3607 2226
    E michael.wishart@svha.org.au |
    W https://www.svphn.org.au

    —–Original Message—–

    Hello Everyone,

    I am an ICP working fir a large metropolitan health service in Victoria. We currently have as part of our health service, 4 residential aged care facilities.

    We are currently in the planning stages with architects of a new public residential aged care facility. The question around hand towels in ensuites has been raised.

    The concern by planners is that not having paper towels in ensuites, will avail them with more space for storage for residents in this space. They state you would not have paper towels in your home ensuite.

    Our concern is , though a home, this is also a clinical space and for safe and best practice, staff require access to a wash basin and paper towels to perform hand hygiene if their hands are soiled.

    I would like to know how others are managing in this space.

    Kind regards,
    Lisa

    Lisa Mathieu Campbell
    Acting Associate Director
    Infection Prevention & Control Services
    Eastern Health
    Victoria

    Sent from my iPhone
    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

    The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.

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    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

    The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.

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    #75825
    Mona Schousboe
    Participant

    Author:
    Mona Schousboe

    Position:

    Organisation:

    State:

    When staff are providing clinical care they need more than a handbasin and
    paper towel. Some of our facilities use clinical trolleys with supply and
    a receptacle for waste. Such a trolley can have paper towels, alcohol
    hand-sanitiser and gloves as required. Clinical staff can wash their hand
    in the patients ensuite, but use their own paper supply for drying their
    hands. Then take the paper with them to be discarded when they strip the
    trolley and prepare it for the next clinical contact. The client residence
    is thus not turned into clinical space.
    Mona Schousboe, FRCPA, MPH
    Christchurch, New Zealand

    On Fri, Sep 20, 2019 at 1:07 AM Lisa Campbell wrote:

    > Hello Everyone,
    >
    > I am an ICP working fir a large metropolitan health service in Victoria.
    > We currently have as part of our health service, 4 residential aged care
    > facilities.
    >
    > We are currently in the planning stages with architects of a new public
    > residential aged care facility. The question around hand towels in ensuites
    > has been raised.
    >
    > The concern by planners is that not having paper towels in ensuites, will
    > avail them with more space for storage for residents in this space. They
    > state you would not have paper towels in your home ensuite.
    >
    > Our concern is , though a home, this is also a clinical space and for safe
    > and best practice, staff require access to a wash basin and paper towels to
    > perform hand hygiene if their hands are soiled.
    >
    > I would like to know how others are managing in this space.
    >
    > Kind regards,
    > Lisa
    >
    > Lisa Mathieu Campbell
    > Acting Associate Director
    > Infection Prevention & Control Services
    > Eastern Health
    > Victoria
    >
    > Email: Lisa.Mathieu@ easternhealth.org.au
    >
    > Sent from my iPhone
    > MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO
    > NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.
    >
    > The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is
    > discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products
    > or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.
    >
    > Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives
    > – registration and login required.
    >
    > Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new
    > message send an email to acipclist@acipc.org.au
    >
    > To send a message to the list administrator send an email to
    > admin@acipc.org.au
    >
    > You can unsubscribe manually from this list by sending ‘signoff acipclist’
    > (without the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au
    >

    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

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    #75858
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Author:
    Anonymous

    Position:

    Organisation:

    State:

    Dear Lisa,

    We do not have clinical wash basins in every residential aged care room, however we do have hand rub and then we have clinical hand basins outside in the hallways where staff can wash, rub or get gloves. We are not going to put new basins into every room either as it is far too expensive to do.

    Kind regards,

    Judy Penman

    Judith Penman | Infection Control Coordinator
    Judith.Penman@corryonghealth.org.au | +61 2 60763280

    The information transmitted, including attachments, is intended only for the person(s) or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and destroy any copies of this information.

    —–Original Message—–
    From: ACIPC Infexion Connexion On Behalf Of Lisa Campbell
    Sent: Thursday, 19 September 2019 9:46 PM
    To: ACIPCLIST@ACIPC.ORG.AU
    Subject: Re: [ACIPC_Infexion_Connexion] Hand towels in ensuites of Residential Aged Care Facilities

    Hello Everyone,

    I am an ICP working fir a large metropolitan health service in Victoria. We currently have as part of our health service, 4 residential aged care facilities.

    We are currently in the planning stages with architects of a new public residential aged care facility. The question around hand towels in ensuites has been raised.

    The concern by planners is that not having paper towels in ensuites, will avail them with more space for storage for residents in this space. They state you would not have paper towels in your home ensuite.

    Our concern is , though a home, this is also a clinical space and for safe and best practice, staff require access to a wash basin and paper towels to perform hand hygiene if their hands are soiled.

    I would like to know how others are managing in this space.

    Kind regards,
    Lisa

    Lisa Mathieu Campbell
    Acting Associate Director
    Infection Prevention & Control Services
    Eastern Health
    Victoria

    Email: Lisa.Mathieu@ easternhealth.org.au

    Sent from my iPhone
    MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

    The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.

    Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives – registration and login required.

    Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new message send an email to acipclist@acipc.org.au

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