FEATURE ARTICLES

The theme of the Central Sterilisation Club (CSC) Annual Scientific Meeting 2025 is: ‘Risk and Revolution’. The CSC’s Mike Simmons and John Prendergast ask the question: What can Elon Musk teach the decontamination community?

The infection risk posed by water systems in hospitals was high on the agenda at the Infection Prevention annual conference. Should we ‘blindly follow guidance’ or take a risk-based approach to water / wastewater safety? Moreover, should we reduce the number of water outlets in hospitals or eliminate them altogether in some locations? Top experts gathered to answer these key questions, at the ICC, Birmingham.

MPs recently asked the senior leadership of NHS England whether the NHS is well placed to implement the Government’s three healthcare shifts, in an evidence session to the Health and Social Care Committee. The three shifts include: moving care from hospitals to the community, embracing digital transformation, and shifting from treatment to prevention. Louise Frampton reports.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has published a report on NHS financial sustainability which claims that there is a ‘lack of fresh thinking and decisive action’ within NHS England and DHSC, combined with ‘overly optimistic planning assumptions’, as the UK’s financial position continues to worsen.

Women experiencing painful reproductive health conditions such as endometriosis, adenomyosis and heavy menstrual bleeding are frequently finding their symptoms ‘normalised’ and their ‘pain dismissed’ when seeking help, a new report by the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) has warned.

As part of the discussion around International Women’s Day, celebrated on 8 March, Kate Woodhead RGN DMS examines the culture in operating theatres and the uncomfortable truth that women in surgery continue to be subject to sexual misconduct.

How can we ensure the HealthTech sector promotes a culture that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive? As part of International Women’s Day, CSJ invited some top female HealthTech leaders to share their views on why diversity matters in the sector, their leadership vision for the future, and how we can encourage the next generation of women to drive innovation forward in this field.

Having celebrated 40 years of innovation in the decontamination sector, Wassenburg is now unveiling exciting plans for 2025, with major investment in the UK market and an expanding portfolio of pioneering technologies.

The latest digital solutions are empowering clinicians to deliver safer and more effective personalised care. Matt Jeffreys explores how these transformative innovations can significantly improve patient safety outcomes by streamlining processes, enhancing communication and enabling data-driven decision-making.

Flexible endoscope reprocessing is about speed and efficiency. The timespan between pre-cleaning, manual cleaning and high-level disinfection should be as short as possible to ensure that bacteria is effectively removed from an endoscope. However, time management can be a huge hurdle to navigate, as Kerry Dolan explains.

Fruzsina Julianna David discusses how an innovative endoscope cleaning system could help to reduce clinical waste in healthcare, while also tackling the risk of biofilms.

IT system failures have been linked to the deaths of three patients and more than 100 instances of serious harm at NHS hospital Trusts in England. Gary Day discusses the way forward for the digitisation of patient data and warns that getting this right is essential to meet the NHS’s challenges, both now and in the future.

The team brief is an important part of effective team working in theatres. An innovative but simple initiative to ensuring everyone feels part of the team is simultaneously tackling environmental and infection control issues in theatres. Danielle Checketts provides an insight

A Royal College of Radiologists’ (RCR) Workforce Census noted a startling statistic: 49% of substantive consultants who left the workforce over the past year were under the age of 50, with the median age of fulltime substantive consultants leaving by 45. In this article, Dr. Dan Rose considers some of the contributing factors and potential solutions.

A survey by the CQC, in 2024, showed that many people were positive about their interactions with urgent and emergency care staff, but as the NHS has struggled through the Winter period, ambulance handover delays, ‘corridor care’, and a lack of pain relief have raised concerns.

The mission to reduce the incidence of surgical site infection continues to gain momentum, with a high impact programme of expert insights at this year’s OneTogether conference. CSJ provides an overview of this must-attend event.

A lack of diversity in medical device testing can lead to clinicians unknowingly deploying devices that perform inadequately in certain demographic groups. Stuart Grant and Sheena Macpherson highlight the impact on patient outcomes and how to manage the risks.

Kate Woodhead RGN DMS provides an overview of the latest global reports on the state of infection prevention and control (IPC). These reports reveal the considerable variability in the implementation of core components of IPC and highlight the need for significant improvement.

As pressure mounts to tackle the NHS patient backlog, global medical device manufacturer, Mindray explores how its A9 anaesthetic machine is helping anaesthetists effectively tackle the backlog while enhancing patient safety and reducing environmental impact.

Head of Innovation at InnoScot Health, Robert Rea discusses how NHS Scotland must aim to meet its 2040 target through cutting-edge innovation. He outlines the challenges and opportunities going forward.