Infection prevention and control practitioners are well versed in protecting patients from harm. Recent political, public and media attention about unsafe organisations has brought doubts into many minds as to the safety of our healthcare services. Infection prevention and control policies are the mainstay in ensuring compliance with best evidence-based practices, but with many mergers of community and secondary care infection prevention and control teams, policies have to be reviewed and revised to ensure they meet both organisational and patient/employer safety needs. This paper reflects contemporary literature around policy development. It will discuss how to develop, implement and evaluate comprehensive policies that will fit the needs of organisations while protecting their population of employees and patients.
Keywords: Evidence based practice; patient safety; policy development; practice improvement; quality assurance.