You could believe that COVID-19 has placed infection control firmly on the agenda of all Boards and therefore as a DIPC it will be easy and the need to persuade, negotiate and influence will be skills you rarely need to use. In some cases, this may be true, but with the need to recover from covid as quickly as possible, the pace of change and challenge will be considerable and DIPC’s will be placed under scrutiny whilst your asked to help Trusts navigate the complexity of recovering safely.

Importantly there is more to infection control then just Covid, and the focus of MRSA, MSSA, Cdif, decontamination and water safety to name a few remain just as important, how do you therefore as a DIPC build on where you are, what will help you keep infection control on the agenda as an enabler to safe care and a safe environment.

Understanding how your role and authority is perceived in the Trust is an important starting point, who are you accountable to and what direct access do you have to the Board. Secondly what is the Boards level of knowledge on infection control, is it just about covid or do they have a broader understanding of IC and the performance of the Trust, pre covid. This level of knowledge allows you then to workout how hard you will have to work to execute your role and to be listened to and importantly understood.

The presentation will focus on the skills on how you do this.