By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

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• Explain the principles of infection prevention and control (IPC) and why they are critical in healthcare, community, and public-facing environments.

• Describe how infections spread (chain of infection), including:

  • Contact, droplet, airborne, bloodborne and environmental transmission routes.

• Identify high-risk settings, tasks, and populations, including vulnerable groups in residential/community care.

• Apply standard infection control precautions in day-to-day practice, including:

  • Hand hygiene

  • Respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette

  • Safe handling of blood/body fluids

  • Use of appropriate PPE

• Select and use PPE correctly (donning/doffing) and understand when to escalate to enhanced precautions.

• Demonstrate safe aseptic techniques (where relevant), including reducing contamination risk during procedures.

• Differentiate between cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation, and apply correct principles for:

  • Equipment, surfaces, and clinical environments

  • Tools and instruments in personal care settings

• Handle sharps safely and reduce needlestick injury risk, including post-exposure procedures.

• Manage waste safely, including clinical, hazardous, and contaminated waste streams.

• Follow correct procedures for spill management (blood/body fluids) and decontamination after contamination events.

• Implement isolation and transmission-based precautions (contact/droplet/airborne) where applicable.

• Recognise early signs of infection and outbreak risk, and respond appropriately using escalation/reporting pathways.

• Apply infection control principles in non-clinical roles, including safe reception practices, environmental touchpoints and shared equipment.

• Explain the importance of vaccination in IPC, including:

  • Protecting staff, patients/clients and the public

  • Reducing outbreak risk in congregate settings

• Understand compliance responsibilities, including:

  • Legal/regulatory expectations

  • Workplace policies and audits

  • Documentation and record-keeping

• Promote infection prevention behaviours within teams and communicate effectively with patients/clients/service users.

• Apply IPC measures in specialist environments, including:

  • Laboratories/specimen handling

  • Sterile processing/decontamination areas

  • Emergency response scenes

  • Schools/childcare, food handling and correctional settings

• Demonstrate professional accountability by maintaining safe practice and reporting incidents, breaches, or hazards.

On completion of this course, participants will be able to:

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• Explain the purpose and importance of infection prevention and control (IPC) across healthcare, community and public-facing environments.

• Describe how infections spread, including key transmission routes (contact, droplet, airborne, bloodborne and environmental).

• Identify high-risk tasks, environments and vulnerable populations where enhanced IPC measures may be required.

• Apply Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs) in routine practice to reduce infection risk.

• Demonstrate correct hand hygiene technique and identify when hand hygiene must be performed.

• Select appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for different scenarios and demonstrate correct donning and doffing procedures.

• Apply respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette measures to reduce transmission of infectious diseases.

• Demonstrate safe aseptic principles (where relevant) to minimise contamination during procedures.

• Distinguish between cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation, and apply correct decontamination principles for environments, equipment and instruments.

• Apply safe sharps handling procedures and describe the actions required following needlestick/sharps injuries.

• Manage blood and body fluid spillages safely, including appropriate cleaning and decontamination procedures.

• Segregate and dispose of waste correctly, including contaminated and clinical waste where applicable.

• Implement transmission-based precautions (contact, droplet and airborne) and understand isolation requirements when indicated.

• Recognise signs of infection and potential outbreak indicators and follow correct escalation and reporting pathways.

• Apply IPC principles within non-clinical roles, including safe interaction with service users and management of shared touchpoints.

• Explain the role of immunisation/vaccination in infection prevention and the protection of staff, patients and the wider community.

• Maintain accurate IPC-related documentation and demonstrate awareness of compliance responsibilities, audits and regulatory expectations.

• Communicate IPC requirements effectively to colleagues, service users and relevant stakeholders to promote safe practice.

• Apply IPC measures in specific environments such as laboratories, decontamination/sterile processing areas, residential care, emergency response settings, schools/childcare, food handling environments and correctional facilities.