Quality standard

This quality standard covers preventing and controlling infections in hospitals and other secondary care settings that develop because of treatment or from being in a healthcare setting (healthcare-associated infections). It includes monitoring, responsibilities, and policies and procedures in secondary care organisations to reduce the risk of infection in patients, staff and visitors. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.

It does not cover surgical wound infections, which are covered in NICE’s quality standard on surgical site infection.

NICE has also published a quality standard on infection prevention and control in all healthcare settings.

How to use NICE quality standards and how we develop them

Quality standards help you improve the quality of care you provide or commission. They apply in England and Wales (see the UK government website and Welsh government website). Decisions on how they apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland are made by ministers in the Scottish government and Northern Ireland Executive.

Find out how to use quality standards and how we develop them. We check our quality standards every August to make sure they are up to date.