ABSTRACT
The clinical area will often have a list of communicable infections which indicates if
isolation is necessary and highlights which material from the patient is potentially
infectious. If in doubt, the ICT can offer advice. The ICT must be contacted if a
patient has MRSA, or has been infected, colonised or transferred from a ward with
MRSA cases in the recent past (usually defined as six months). Those patients isolated
because of other infectious diseases should also be notified to the ICT. Certain
infectious diseases are notifiable to local authorities, usually by the doctor making the
diagnosis (Wilson 2006).
