ABSTRACT
Over the past few decades, the discipline of infection control has moved from a relatively quiet subject, which existed in the shadow of clinical specialities to a scientific discipline with a high political profile. It has become clear that healthcare-associated infection contributes significantly to healthcare costs and the public, press and governments are aware of the avoidable morbidity associated with these infections. As a result of the increasing public awareness of healthcare-associated infection, governments have introduced a range of initiatives aimed at both reducing the risk of such infections and increasing public confidence in healthcare systems. These initiatives have included compulsory reporting of infection rates (followed inevitably by the publication of these rates, usually in the form of ‘league tables’ so that the public can compare institutions with each other), guideline publications (such as those produced by the Centers for Disease Control in the USA and the appointment of individuals (e.g. the Inspector of Microbiology and Infection Control in the UK) charged with reducing healthcare-associated infections in public hospitals. It is open to debate how successful these initiatives have been; however, the increased political and public profile has been viewed as a good thing by many infection control practitioners, as this allows views to be heard by those with influence and may even result in increased resources for this important healthcare function.
