The beginning - 1979 and 1980

In 1979, a group of eminent medical microbiologists met and agreed that medical microbiology, especially in the field of hospital infection prevention and control (IPC), was under-represented in the scholarly and professional organisations that existed at that time. The group shared an objective to promote the study (and facilitate the dissemination of) information for medical microbiologists concerning all aspects of hospital infection, with special emphasis on hospital-acquired infection. In 1980, the Hospital Infection Society (later renamed the Healthcare Infection Society) was formed, and the Journal of Hospital Infection was first published.

Celebrating the 40th anniversaries

Throughout 2020, the Healthcare Infection Society and the Journal of Hospital Infection will celebrate their anniversaries with a series of new activities and initiatives.

January will see the launch of a new HIS expert-approved quality mark which, when displayed on our educational resources, will provide assurance that the content of the resources have been reviewed and approved by IPC experts. The Society’s founding members were all experts in IPC, and the principles of championing evidence-based best practice and expert-led education remain as embedded in the Society today as they were at the point of the its inception.

The professional development and education of healthcare professionals in healthcare-associated infections was advocated by the Society from the beginning, and since 1987 members have been able to apply for travel bursaries to attend conferences and events.  This tradition continues today, and the successful recipients of the 40^th anniversary special travel bursary (£2,500) who will attend the Sixth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections, in Atlanta, USA will be announced in January.  

During the year we will announce a new grant to support IPC professionals in low income countries, as well as a new category of membership aimed at those who are at the very beginning of their career in IPC.  

In April we will move into our new headquarters – Montagu House – and we look forward to welcoming our members to come and visit the Newsom library and to view the collection of medical history books bequeathed to the Society by founder member Bill Newsom.

Our special celebration event will take place 10-11 June, and we encourage our members to join us to celebrate the past 40 years, and to meet friends and colleagues, old and new. Further activities are planned for the remainder of 2020 and we will keep you informed via the member monthly e-newsletter.  We hope to see you at one of our events during 2020.

If you are interested in writing for our blog, please contact us at admin@his.org.uk with your proposed topic.