One of the many hats Magda Smith (pictured), our Chief Medical Officer, wears in our Trust is our Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC). On paper this means she is the one with overall responsibility for ensuring we’re protecting our patients and staff from the risk of infection.

The Covid-19 pandemic has made this role more important than ever, and, as Magda is keen to point out, she doesn’t do it alone.

She said: “I work very closely with our Infection Prevention and Control team, and during the pandemic I’ve overseen this alongside my Gold Command colleagues. However, reducing the risk to our patients and staff of catching an infectious disease in our hospitals is the responsibility of every single one of us.”

Handwashing has always been important to the NHS, but it’s never been such a national issue as it is now. During the pandemic, the use of PPE, and fit testing to ensure we’re safe, has also come to the forefront of everything we do.

Magda added: “Everything during Covid-19 relates to infection prevention and control. Right back to the initial stages when we changed how our hospitals work; introducing Covid and non-Covid pathways; to how this continues with our green zones, allowing us to reintroduce elective operations.

“Ever since I became our DIPC, I’ve been conscious of the risk of a pandemic. I expected to be dealing with flu – it’s one of the highest issues on our national risk register. I’ve dealt with preparations for epidemics in the past, such as flu and the risk of Ebola, so I knew it was possible I could be in the middle of a major one at some point in my career. I never thought about what it would actually be like, and couldn’t have expected this. I’ve been in the NHS a long time and I’ve never seen anything this significant.”

In her role as DIPC, Magda is usually concerned about infections such as MRSA, norovirus and C. Diff, however, Covid-19 has changed lives across the world. And Magda’s final message is the most important:

“Infection prevention and control is the most important tools we have for controlling Covid-19 – which is why it’s so important that we all take our responsibility for it seriously to protect our patients, our colleagues, our loved ones, and ourselves.”

Sian Olivo is our deputy director of IPC and responsible for the day-to-day running of this service. As well as our IPC team, we have 68 link nurses leading on IPC in their own areas across our Trust.