The Central Sterilising Club
About Us
The Central Sterilising Club was founded in 1960 by a small group of enthusiastic individuals who were either working in the rapidly evolving central sterile supply depts, or were attempting to solve the many problems associated with developing rapid, safe methods for sterilizing items in bulk.
The early meetings were chaired by the late Professor Darmady, then Senior Pathologist at Portsmouth, and attended by medical and scientific experts who became involved in the future developments. Many notable figures in the sterilization field have been, or are, members of the Club.
The Club still flourishes and its strength is its multi-disciplinary membership which includes: Medical and non-medical microbiologists Infection Prevention nurses, Authorized persons (sterilizers) Sterile Service staff who together with commercial companies involved in all aspects of sterilization, make up a unique blend of skill experience and acknowledged expertise.
Several successful national groups have emerged from the Club’s membership, including the Institute for Decontamination Sciences (IDSc and formally the ISSM), the Infection Prevention Society (IPS, formally ICNA) and the Healthcare Infection Society (formally Hospital Infection Society). Similar groups based on the CSC have been formed in other countries.
The Club’s annual meeting is the only forum where members of all groups can meet, exchange ideas and solve mutual problems. The design of the meeting allows ample time for discussions in both formal sessions and in the less formal atmosphere for which the Club is noted.
The History of CSC
1960
The Central Sterilising Club is founded
1967
Publication of guidance on Sterilisation and Disinfection of Heat Labile Equipment, Working Party Report No. 2, Central Sterilising Club
1986
Publication of guidance on Hygiene for Hydro therapy pools – Working Party Report No. 3. 1986;
2000
CSC members contribute to the national audit of decontamination standards in English hospitals.
2014
First CSC female Chair – Tina Bradley
2016
Publication of guidance on air quality in endoscope decontamination facilities – Working party report.
Jimmy Walker – CSC Chair
Jimmy worked for Public Health England as a scientific leader in water microbiology and decontamination and managed a range of research projects on pathogens such as Legionella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacteria spp. He collaborated closely with the Department of Health (DH England) and the Health and Safety Executive in writing and developing national and international guidance on the microbiology of water and decontamination in healthcare. He has an extensive publication record including his recently edited book “Decontamination in Hospitals and Healthcare”. He has been involved in writing water guidance during COVID-19 and is contributing to a range of BSI committees. Jimmy is very proud to be the current Chair of CSC and was previously the CSC Secretary (2011-2017).
Tracy Walley – Secretary
Upon hearing that the CSC committee was looking to recruit to fill vacancies, Tracy volunteered to assist with a role within the committee. Tracy had a sales career for some 20 years which started as a sales executive in the Health and Fitness Industry. She then went to work in the family business for 6 years selling jewellery then into retail covering the South of the UK. Tracy worked for Lyreco UK (when 2010) and was one the top salespeople out of a total sales force of 1200.
Tracy first stepped into the decontamination sector in 2015 and has never looked back on this move. Tracy is currently working for Sychem as the Healthcare Sales Executive for the Midlands, North and Scotland.
Tracy has a keen interest in walking and conquered the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in 2019.
Mike Bowden – Treasurer
Mike has been involved in decontamination for over 20 years, working within infection prevention, sterilisation, endoscopy, dentistry and more recently, environment decontamination. During this time, Mike has established a wide network of health sector and industry contacts.
Mike is an active member of the Central Sterilising Club, attending his first club meeting in Northern Ireland back in 1999 and has been a committee member since 2018. In addition to the CSC, Mike is a regular at all other relevant seminars, conferences and exhibitions for decontamination and infection prevention.
Ean Whalley – Website Co-ordinator
Having left University with a Microbiology degree in 1998 Ean went into the pharmaceutical industry working for AstraZeneca in Macclesfield. After 6 years he moved into the healthcare market with Andersen Caledonia and began his career managing a microbiological testing service for the NHS and private medical companies across the UK.
In 2008 an opportunity arose which allowed him to start his own company which is called Serve Medical which has now been running for 13 years. Ean joined the CSC committee 3 years ago and now helps manage the website and he is also training to become an Authorising Engineer (Decontamination).
Jennifer Stevenson – Membership Secretary
Jennifer has been involved in infection control and decontamination for over 25 years. Jennifer started her nursing career in 1986 at Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust working in both medical and surgical directorates finally working in Cardiothoracic surgery which led to involvement in infection control and endoscope decontamination. She has dedicated a substantial amount of her nursing career to the NHS and this has given her the advantage of the understanding of NHS policies and procedures, Jennifer continues to follow developments in the NHS to enhance her personal professional development. Jennifer left the NHS in 2004 to take up the role of a clinical nurse educator/advisor within the MedTech Industry where the focus was on the education and development of endoscope and instrument decontamination.
Professionally she has maintained her nurse registration and continued with her education gaining City & Guilds teaching qualifications and a certificate in higher education (CertEd). Jennifer has been key in the development of various product support guidelines whilst working within her current employment and other MedTech companies.
Jennifer lives in Newcastle upon Tyne but is originally is from Rossendale in Lancashire. Her hobbies include music festivals, sewing, reading and spending time in her campervan.
James Tinsdeall Authorizing Engineer (Decontamination)
He contributes knowledge as a Head of Estates within the NHS for 20 years, and overall NHS experience of 30 years. Having recently completed the AED competency framework and consequently added to the AE(D) register. James is now running a limited company providing AE(D) services and consultancy to healthcare organisations in the UK and EU.
David Jenkins – Committee Member (Medical Microbiologist)
Dr David Jenkins has been a consultant medical microbiologist and lead infection prevention doctor at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust since 1997. He is also the lead doctor for antimicrobials in the Trust. He provides clinical microbiology support for Glenfield Hospital, helping with the management of infection in cardiology, cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery patients including patients on intensive care in the extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation unit. In addition, David is an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Leicester where he is involved in teaching medical and other health science students. David has held a number of national roles over recent years, including being an elected member of the Council of the Royal College of Pathologists, where he is also the immediate past-chair of the Medical Microbiology and Virology Specialty Advisory Committee. He has also served on the councils of the Healthcare Infection Society and the Central Sterilising Club. He is the current President-Elect of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. He takes over full presidential duties in March 2021.
David has contributed to a number of national guidelines and co-authored research papers on infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship. He has also been in an invited speaker at conferences in Europe, Asia, North and South America.
Graham Stanton – Committee Member
Graham retired from the Health Service in Wales after forty-two years’ service.
His engineering career started by attending the School of Navigation in Warsash, and he served as an Engineer Officer Cadet which was an excellent start to his education and experiences that helped him through his whole career.
He joined the NHS in 1974 and worked in the sterilizing and decontamination field for the last thirty-three years from December 1981 until his retirement.
During that time, he represented the Welsh Health Service in the formation of national guidance, both for Wales and the English DH.
Graham also worked with the Welsh Government and was instrumental in setting up and chairing active decontamination groups in both Sterile Services and Endoscopy.
He has been an Authorised Person (Sterilizers) since 1995 changing, in July 2008, to Authorising Engineer (Decontamination).
Graham is still invited to the All Wales Decontamination committee as an IHEEM advisor and currently chairs the IHEEM AE(D) Registration Board after retirement from the chair of the IHEEM Decontamination Technology Platform [DTP]. He also represents IHEEM on the Professional Bodies Group [DPECF] bodies and Wales branch of IHEEM and has been co-opted to the CSC committee.
Becky Hill
Starting as a microbiology research scientist in 1986, Becky moved into the commercial world of water purification joining ELGA in 1990, where she worked in many different sectors providing water quality solutions to a vast range of applications. In 1996 Becky focussed on applications for water in healthcare, becoming heavily involved in reusable medical device decontamination. She was instrumental in designing the first dedicated water system able to support endoscope washer disinfector reprocessing, before moving into the field of Renal dialysis.
In 2010 Becky started Solutions 42 Ltd providing training and consultancy services in the fields of water, decontamination and infection prevention control. During this period she co-wrote chapter 11 in “Decontamination in hospitals and healthcare” edited by Dr J Walker published in 2014 (revised November 2019.) Designed, developed and delivered the “Water Quality for Decontamination Services” module, of the RMD decontamination pathway diploma originally run by Anglia Ruskin University. She supported a Care Home group for 6 years in reducing the number of Norovirus outbreak events and improving cleaning standards, resulting in successfully presenting a poster at IPS 2021 on the outcomes of the intervention. She has recently come full circle re-joining Veolia as the water solutions services manager for healthcare.
Becky is passionate about holistic training integrating human behaviour science with specialist subjects. She is qualified in adult education and training which she combines with cultural transformational tools for creating measurable performance improvements for individuals, teams and organisations. She has been an invited speaker at various professional conferences both in the UK and abroad with her latest speaking experience in Melbourne Australia at SRACA (Sterilising Research Advisory Council of Australia (Vic) Inc).
Pat Cattini
Associate Director Infection Prevention and Control and Decontamination Lead at University Hospitals Sussex. Formerly infection prevention lead at Royal Marsden, Immediate Past President of the Infection Prevention Society, winner of the British Journal of Nursing, Infection Prevention Nurse of the Year 2017, author of the IPC Chapter in 10th Edition of the ‘Marsden Manual’.
I have worked in IPC for 29 years, in both acute, specialist and community settings with extensive experience in all aspects of IPC including building design, refurbishment, environmental hygiene, decontamination, water hygiene, ventilation, hand hygiene, infection management etc. I was nursing representative on the CJD Incidents panel from 2003-2009.
A well-respected infection prevention practitioner known for pragmatism and can-do attitude. A proven record of inspiring, motivating and bringing people together to get results. Ability and confidence to confront new challenges; to work across different boundaries and use influence to achieve goals.
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Become a CSC Member
Membership is open to any individual or company actively engaged in sterile product manufacture, control of microbial contamination and associated methods, and research and training activities.