The Principles of Medical Device Decontamination

Decontamination Specific Education Programmes

In the ‘NHS five-year forward view’ (2014) 7 and the ‘ Next steps on the five year forward review’ (2017) 8 it stated ‘Employers are responsible for ensuring they have sufficient staff with the right skills to care for their patients. Supported by Health Education England, we will address immediate gaps in key areas. We will put in place new measures to support employers to retain and develop their existing staff, increase productivity and reduce the waste of skills and money.’ The Modernising Scientific Careers document (2013) 9 was a UK-wide education and training strategy for the whole healthcare science workforce in the NHS and associated bodies. Decontamination science was included amongst 50 other healthcare science specialities and Decontamination science staff were reclassified as healthcare science personnel in England in 2015, Scotland followed in 2018. These changes allowed access to Healthcare Science training budgets and affiliating the industry to science. In addition, England was developing apprenticeship programmes for a range of healthcare science personnel allowing departments to move their staff onto a recognised framework within the scientific field. Health Education England published ‘Commission on Education and Training for Patient Safety Progress report’ (2017) 10 which stated “ The NHS cannot expect to achieve improvements in patient safety if it is not embedded within education and training and if we cannot safely allow staff the time away from the workplace to undergo training”. The Health Services Safety Investigation Body (HSSIB) 11 summary on the decontamination of surgical instruments and the HTM Technical bulletin: development of a competency framework for staff working in sterile services and decontamination departments gives the line of responsibility for decontamination. The bulletin gives qualifications for those working within decontamination departments linking it to professional membership/registration with a register for apprentices (both level 2 & 4) and a non-accredited register for level 3

156

@ 2025 Central Sterilising Club. All rights reserved. Do Not duplicate