Hertfordshire and West Essex (HWE) Integrated Care System (ICS) – Urinary Tract Infection and Catheter Care Workstream

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are the most common reason for antibiotic prescribing in older adults with underlying health conditions in health and social care settings.

More work needs to be done to look for effective prevention, treatment, management, and close monitoring of UTIs and CAUTIs. Considering the above, the Integrated Care Board (ICB) Infection Prevention and Control team (IPCT) reinstated the UTI and Catheter Care Workstream across Herts and West Essex in May 2023. This work is sub-divided into the following priorities:

1. Communication
2. Baseline data
3. UTI Prevention
4. UTI diagnosis/treatment
5. Management of urinary catheters
6. Training

The group have recruited relevant health and social care professionals from various health and social care organisations within the HWE ICS system alongside patient participation representatives (PPG) and have organised Task and Finish Groups to tackle each of the six priorities above.  To date, the group have tackled Priorities 1 to 4 and have proposed recommendations for system partners to implement at local level. 

We encourage all care homes to engage in all aspects of this workstream by:

• Ensuring best practice for insertion and maintenance of urinary catheter
• Ensuring that patients with urinary catheters have a catheter passport (Patient copy), catheter passport (clinical copy)
• Enhancing hydration strategies to reduce UTI
• Compliance with national guidance around To Dip or not To Dip (TDONTD)

If you require further information please contact the ICB IPC Team on  Hwe.hcai@nhs.net