About us

The infection prevention and control (IPC) programme aims to reduce the number of infections people get while being treated by a health service.

We currently support two national quality improvement programmes:

• Hand hygiene
• Surgical site infection improvement – includes surveillance for orthopaedic and cardiac surgery in public hospitals.

In 2021 we undertook a national healthcare-associated infection point prevalence survey. The results of this work will inform the future direction of the IPC programme.

Meet the team

Together we support the health sector and provide expert IPC and quality improvement advice by drawing on current evidence and the team’s collective knowledge and experience in quality and safety.

• Nikki Grae, Senior manager
• Jeanette Bell, Project manager
• Sue Atkins, Specialist, infection prevention and control
• Marie Talbot,  Programme coordinator
• David Waddell, Data analyst
• Harini Srinivasan, Data analyst
• Grace Clendon, Analyst/data scientist
• Dr Sally Roberts, Clinical lead
• Dr Arthur Morris, Clinical lead

We receive expert advice from the Strategic Infection Prevention and Control Advisory Group (SIPCAG).

For any IPC related query, please contact ipc@hqsc.govt.nz

Related resources

• Introduction to the Te Tāhū Hauora infection prevention and control improvement programmes