Find out more about the winner and shortlisted entries in the Infection Prevention and Control category at the 2025 Nursing Times Awards.
The winners of the 2025 Nursing Times Awards were announced at a ceremony on 23 October last year, attended by finalists and judges.
We are grateful to the Infection Prevention Society for supporting this category for Infection Prevention and Control.
Winners across 25 categories, including Infection Prevention and Control, received their awards at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane. Below you can find out who made our Infection Prevention and Control shortlist in 2025 and why:
Winners
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust: Blood culture pathway project
Summary: Northumbria Healthcare set up a multidisciplinary team looking at how NHS England’s blood culture pathway could be implemented and the best way to do this. A multidisciplinary team, including infection control clinical educator Rachel Smith, designed a blood culture collection bag containing most of the items that were needed to fully implement the pathway and a step-by-step guide to the correct process for taking a blood culture. It has made the process of obtaining a blood culture a lot easier and reduced the need for staff to go ‘looking’ for blood culture bottles because they are all available in a grab-bag style set-up.
A few years ago, NHS England released new guidance for the blood culture pathway. Blood cultures play a fundamental role in the detection of infections and in doing so support clinicians to get their patients onto the correct antibiotic in a timely manner.
In a rising climate of antimicrobial resistance, blood cultures play a vital role in healthcare. Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust set up a multi-disciplinary team looking at how this pathway could be implemented and the best way to do this.
The team is made up of various clinicians including infection control, the laboratory, microbiology, critical care clinicians and pharmacy.
From the first meeting of the MDT smaller project work came about and education on the “shop floor” as well as ensuring that the lab had capacity to double our blood cultures was a huge undertaking.
We faced huge challenges that were not always easy to overcome, we needed to double our fill rates of our initial data gather as well as ensure that the lab had capacity to double the amount of analyser space. We were aware that this needed to be a staggered approach to a full roll out.
Our future plans are to roll out the blood culture collection bags trust wide and ensure that we up-skill as many staff who currently take bloods to up-skill them to taking blood cultures.
It is important in today’s age that we up-skill both registered and non-registered staff in a job which historically has often been medical led.
Finalists
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust: Housekeeper infection prevention and control champions
Summary: Housekeepers are frontline guardians of environmental hygiene, yet their contribution to infection prevention is seldom acknowledged or developed. To close this gap, the infection prevention and control (IPC) nursing team launched the Housekeeper IPC Champions Programme – a six-month course delivered in-house with support from industry specialists.
Housekeepers are frontline guardians of environmental hygiene, yet their contribution to infection prevention is seldom acknowledged or systematically developed.
To close this gap, the Dartford & Gravesham Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) nursing team launched the Housekeeper IPC Champions Programme – a six-month, multimodal, fully CPD-certified programme delivered in-house with support from industry specialists.
The blended curriculum weaves concise e-learning modules (fully CPD-certified and endorsed by the Infection Prevention Society’s Industry Insights programme) with hands-on workshops and ward-based competency assessments.
Progress is celebrated through a colour-coded badge system that visibly signals each participant’s expertise to colleagues, patients and visitors.
Twenty-five housekeepers have already graduated from the first cohort, driving immediate change: cleaning protocols are now standardised trust-wide, spill-kit availability has been optimised, and body-spill decontamination is quicker and more consistent.
Owing to its success, a second cohort is scheduled to begin later this year, extending the programme’s impact across the organisation and embedding housekeepers firmly within the IPC team.
Finalists
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust: CLEAN campaign
Summary: Historically, non-compliance with infection prevention and control (IPC) practices had been identified within the trust. The IPC team came up a simple but effective way of reinforcing good IPC practice at all levels via the CLEAN campaign. The acronym CLEAN stands for clean hands and correct PPE, line care, environmental and equipment cleaning, antimicrobial stewardship, and needle and sharp safety.
Historically, non-compliance with infection prevention and control practices and processes had been identified within trust.
It has been very challenging on a number of levels, and an overarching theme was of poor engagement from the clinical team. In turn, this identified leadership issues associated with IPC standards across the trust across all staff grades.
CQC inspections identified IPC concerns, and one of the observations from a CQC visit was the low level of compliance from staff across all specialties, and staff groups when it came to infection prevention and control.
Ultimately, implementing new innovation, or as simple as reintroducing and reinforcing good practice was challenging for the IPC team.
Having identified all the issues and the area of focus, the IPC team came up with a very simple, and some may say, not so innovative but a truly effective way of reinforcing good IPC practice at all levels.
We came up with an acronym namely; CLEAN (The CLEAN Campaign). We thought, if we make it catchy and engaging we could drive engagement and compliance.
This campaign was run for six months in total as each month there was a focus on every letter. In March 2024 we held a ‘big launch’ of the entire campaign, basically introducing the whole concept and the reason why we are doing this.
The number one challenge was budget, especially in an environment that is looking for savings and efficiencies.
However, we needed to cover the cost of printing of posters and leaflets which we managed to secure from the trust DIPC. The campaign started and we immediately observed improved staff engagement.
We completed a short staff survey to measure whether there was any improvement with staff engagement, the number of infections and level of IPC knowledge across sites.
Finalists
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust: Promoting a proactive and preventative IPC culture within adult social care
Summary: The IPC Care Home Project was launched to strengthen infection prevention and control (IPC) practices across adult social care in North Yorkshire. A pilot was conducted with 11 care homes, with tailored action plans for each including face-to-face training, audits, and policy and resource reviews.
The IPC Care Home Project was launched to strengthen infection prevention and control (IPC) practices across adult social care, following the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the urgent need for a more consistent, proactive IPC culture.
Aligned with the national IPC Education Framework, the project aimed to support care providers in building a skilled and resilient workforce, enhancing IPC leadership, and improving audit, policy, and training practices.
A pilot was conducted with 12 care homes across North Yorkshire, later adjusted to 11. The project began with a comprehensive needs assessment through surveys and interviews, evaluating IPC training, leadership, auditing, and policy compliance.
Based on this, tailored action plans were co-developed with each provider. Key interventions included face-to-face training, Community IPC Team led assurance audits, policy reviews, resource provision, and support in appointing IPC Leads and strengthening internal audit processes.
While resource limitations and systemic challenges persist, the project achieved measurable progress in embedding a proactive, sustainable IPC culture. Provider feedback reflected both operational improvements and increased confidence in maintaining high infection control standards.
This work lays a strong foundation for future expansion and highlights the ongoing need for investment in education, leadership, and capacity-building within social care.
The initiative also significantly improved relationships between care providers and the Community IPC Team. Face-to-face training and practical audit support were particularly valued, reinforcing a hands-on approach to learning and improvement.
Looking ahead, the team plans to complete remaining re-audits and expand support to additional care homes. Future priorities include developing a flexible, competency-based training programme, growing IPC Champion networks, and increasing team capacity to meet sector-wide demand.
Building on this success, the project sets the stage for embedding lasting improvements in IPC standards, culture, and resilience across the adult social care sector.
Finalists
HCA Healthcare: Quality improvement to minimise bloodstream infections in parenteral nutrition patients
Summary: Noemie Madrid, a nutrition support clinical nurse specialist at Princess Grace Hospital, developed a parenteral nutrition (PN) competency assessment that all nurses had to complete before administering or disconnecting PN. It included teaching about PN, practical training, assessments, and ongoing support and retrospective review.
Catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) is a serious issue for patients on parenteral nutrition (PN). When I started my role, one thing that stood out was the inconsistent nursing practices around PN administration.
It was clear that something needed to change to improve patient safety, and I wanted to focus on an area I could address – nursing practice through enhanced training.
I started by reviewing current practices through audits and talking to the nurses themselves. Many felt unsure about certain aspects of PN, and training seemed inconsistent.
With that in mind, we developed a PN competency assessment that all nurses had to complete before administering or disconnecting PN.
It included teaching about PN, practical training, assessments, and ongoing support. I retrospectively reviewed our hospital’s CRBSI rate to get a baseline data, and compared outcomes after implementation.
There were definitely challenges. Balancing training with the realities of busy wards wasn’t easy. But over time, we saw a shift—not just in knowledge, but in confidence and consistency.
The results spoke for themselves. Our baseline CRBSI rate was 5.46 per 1,000 catheter days. At the end of the quality improvement project, the CRBSI rate went down to 1.36 per 1,000 catheter days.
In the period of 2 years (2023 and 2024), with 109 central lines and 5514 catheter days, we had just three CRBSI cases – a rate of 0.54 per 1000 catheter days. Documentation also improved significantly, from 72.6% to over 90%.
Going forward, we’ll keep the training ongoing and part of new staff orientation. I’m looking at how we can use digital tools to further support training and documentation.
I’m also looking into how I can mirror the same training in our other sites to improve patient safety in our company as a whole.
Finalists
Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust: Reduce Group – a streptococcus wound infection
Summary: Working with patients who have complex and challenging conditions, senior infection prevention and control practitioner Bethany Bresnahan has demonstrated outstanding dedication, innovation and leadership in reducing group A streptococcus infections in wounds. As well as giving training, she has ensured best practice is embedded into daily routines.
I am honored to nominate Bethany Bresnahan for her exceptional contributions to improving wound care practices on our mental health ward.
Working with patients who have complex and challenging conditions, she has demonstrated outstanding dedication, innovation, and leadership in reducing Group A Streptococcus (GAS) infections in wounds.
Recognising a concerning trend in wound infections, Beth took proactive steps to implement significant changes. She led a structured review of existing wound care protocols, identifying key areas for improvement.
With a focus on infection prevention, she enhanced hand hygiene compliance, reinforced Aseptic Non-Touch Technique (ANTT) training, and improved swabbing practices for early detection of infections.
Her efforts did not stop at training—she engaged the entire multidisciplinary team, ensuring that best practices were embedded into daily routines.
By fostering a culture of accountability and education, she empowered colleagues to take ownership of infection control measures. As a result, compliance with best practices improved significantly, leading to a measurable reduction in GAS infections on the ward.
Beyond clinical improvements, Beth demonstrated remarkable patient-centered care, ensuring that wound management was compassionate and individualised.
She worked closely with patients, many of whom struggle with self-care, to encourage engagement in their own wound healing. Her approach not only improved physical outcomes but also enhanced trust and therapeutic relationships within the ward.
The impact of Beth’s work has been transformative. Her leadership has not only improved patient safety but has also contributed to a more knowledgeable and proactive team. The reduction in wound infections stands as a testament to her dedication, making her truly deserving of this recognition.
I wholeheartedly recommend Bethany Bresnahan for this award in recognition of her outstanding commitment to patient care, safety, and clinical excellence.
Finalists
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust: Mouthcare in Healthcare – a pneumonia prevention strategy
Summary: Training was provided on the principles of mouthcare to improve healthcare workers’ knowledge in delivering mouthcare to patients in a general district hospital. Theory training, provided by an infection prevention practitioner with a background in dental nursing, focused on comprehensive oral cavity assessments, care plan delivery and mouthcare products.
Training was provided on principles of mouthcare to improve health care workers knowledge in delivering principles of mouthcare in a general district hospital.
This initiative was part of a pneumonia prevention strategy. This would also improve the overall assessment of oral health needs for patients and subsequent care plans for inpatients in an elderly care ward.
Theory training was provided by and infection prevention practitioner with a background of dental nursing. Training focused on comprehensive oral cavity assessments, care plan delivery and trust mouthcare products.
Education provided a focus on the link between oral hygiene and hospital acquire pneumonia. A review of risk assessments and the patient’s oral health was undertaken, providing live feedback and support on how to assess and deliver different aspects of oral health.
Future plans for this initiative are to role this out across other areas within the trust. I aim to engage more key stakeholders to provide training to who can then deliver training to health care workers and spread the message.
Finalists
Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust: Optimising infection prevention and control in Sussex Community intermediate care units – enhancing utilisation of the Infection Control Risk Assessment Tool
Summary: The Infection Control Risk Assessment Tool (IRAT) provides a systematic and standardised approach to identifying, preventing and managing infection risks. An initiative to enhance and evaluate IRAT, as well as providing bitesize training about it, has led to a marked improvement in compliance rates.
The IRAT is a locally produced admission risk assessment tool used at SCFT since 2019 to ensure consistent infection risk management for safe patient care. It helps identify and manage infection risks, complementing the IPC Isolation Policy.
The scoring ranges from Red (30-44, high risk) requiring isolation, Amber (16-29, moderate risk) pending assessment, to Green (<15, low risk) suitable for bay nursing.
The IPC Team found significant variance in IRAT audit reports, with a 32% compliance rate in audits versus 100% reported by bedded units, highlighting a quality improvement opportunity for better IRAT tool utilisation. A root cause analysis identified key themes.
Using the PDSA methodology, my improvement statement focused on Optimising Infection Control in Community Bedded Units: Enhancing the Risk Assessment Tool (IRAT) compliance rate from 32% to 80% in intermediate care units.
Pre-project data was collected from the IPC Team’s previous and digital teams’ audits. Stakeholder engagement revealed significant gaps in the digital system and inconsistent IRAT completion by clinical staff.
Recommendations included enhancing the IRAT to prevent misinterpretation and providing training for clinical staff. Addressing these issues is essential for improving overall effectiveness and patient care.
Delays in meetings with the digital team due to staff shortages and illness hindered progress. Despite these challenges, 80% of clinical staff participated in bite-size training sessions.
A leadership change in the digital team led to positive action on recommendations. However, a conflict arose as the performance team reported 100% compliance while the IPC team noted only 32%, creating distrust among managers.
Ward managers were initially reluctant to release staff for training, but through effective dialogue, they identified gaps.
Finalists
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust: Clostridioides difficile reduction initiative
Summary: The nurse-led infection prevention and control team introduced a multifaceted, trust-wide initiative in response to rising cases of healthcare-associated Clostridioides difficile. The team implemented a nurse-focused strategy to address education, infrastructure, prescribing and patient flow challenges.
The key issue we sought to address was the rising incidence of healthcare-associated Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI), with 92 confirmed cases in 2023-24 against an annual trajectory of 26.
Root cause analyses revealed recurring issues including suboptimal antimicrobial prescribing, delayed isolation, and insufficient specimen collection practices.
In response, our nurse-led IPC team introduced a multifaceted, trust-wide initiative. We performed a quarterly thematic analysis and fishbone review of all cases to identify key risk factors and system gaps.
Targeted interventions included enhanced education on sampling, antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) time-out sessions, real-time isolation risk reviews, and the introduction of an IPC nursing associate in admission areas to promote early sampling.
We expanded isolation capacity with Bioquell pods and launched enteric audits via Tendable, complemented by improved environmental cleaning using HPV and UV protocols.
Key challenges included limited isolation facilities and operational pressures that delayed deep cleaning and isolation implementation.
Addressing variation in staff knowledge and prescribing practices also required sustained training and leadership.
Despite these hurdles, the initiative achieved a significant reduction in CDI cases to 69 in 2024-25, with decreased severity and relapse rates, demonstrating clear clinical impact.
Looking ahead, we plan to continue embedding this programme into our 2025-26 work plan. This includes expanding AMS interventions, reviewing recurrent CDI treatment options (eg faecal microbiota transplantation), and aligning surveillance with UKHSA data.
Ongoing partnership with the ICB aims to foster a system-wide approach across acute and community settings.
This initiative showcases how nurse-led leadership, robust data analysis, and multidisciplinary collaboration can drive sustained improvements in infection prevention and control.
Further reading on the 2025 Nursing Times Awards
You can also read more about the other winners and finalists in the 2025 Nursing Times Awards supplement and make sure you consider entering this year’s Nursing Times Awards.
