“If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise”. Those are the often repeated lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy that were added to the tune of The Teddy Bears Picnic in 1932, by the Irish songwriter, to the tune composed by John Walter Bratton, in 1907. While not as old as this tune, the Central Sterilising Club (CSC) is celebrating its 64th year in 2024.
As a Club, the committee is grateful for your support and we serve to deliver what you, the members, want in our scientific meetings. The Club remains a not-for-profit organisation, where everyone is treated equally, and we continue to independently run our conferences without trade stands and commercial shows.
However, do you ever get the feeling when you turn up to the latest conference that the ideas that are being thrashed about are the same-old, same-old? To quote a phrase from Henry Ford, “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.”
Something different each year
The CSC realises that nothing ever stands still, and to innovate, we have to do something new and different each year. While this almost inevitably involves taking risks, the committee works hard to ensure that our two-day Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) (15th and 16th April) and Annual Study Day (14th October) remain ground-breaking and educational (14 CPD points). The risk of repetition of similar content arises as more and more decontamination conferences are organised each year. However, we believe that additional conferences will stimulate more interest in decontamination as a science, as well as the important aspects of improving public health and recovery from surgery.
So instead of going down to the woods today, we look forward to welcoming you to Gerrard’s Cross Crowne Plaza hotel on the 15th and 16th April, where we will be hosting the 2024 Annual Scientific Conference. We can guarantee a first-class reception and facilities at the venue.
The Kelsey lecture was established in 1980 through a donation from Dr. Jos Kelsey to enable a guest lecturer of international repute to be invited. This year, Prof. Martin Exner has been invited to give the lecture. Martin is Chair of Hygiene and Public Health at the University of Bonn and Managing Director of the Institute, which is a WHO Collaborating Centre for Drinking Water Hygiene. This year’s Kelsey lecture will cover ‘Disinfection and Decontamination in Healthcare settings — critical aspects of microbial control’.
The current speed of technological innovation in healthcare is astounding. Technologies such as artificial intelligence are set to transform cancer detection, and robots are transforming surgery. There has been an explosion in robotic surgery, with practical innovative technology to improve surgical care and reduce infections and complications.
We are delighted that surgeon, Fraser Sutherland, will discuss these very issues in his presentation ‘The Future of Robotic Cardiac Surgery’. Fraser is a Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at Ross Hall Hospital, Glasgow (Private Patients), and the Golden Jubilee National Hospital (NHS Patients), where he undertakes cardiac surgical procedures. He trained in minimally invasive robot assisted mitral valve surgery, and his philosophy is that small and seemingly simple improvements in a procedure can deliver large and significant benefits for individual patients if delivered in a controlled manner.
Ensuring clean instruments
Of course, carrying out transforming robotic surgery is one thing, but how do we ensure that the minimally invasive instruments are clean, sterilised, and fit for purpose for the next patient? With over 25 years of decontamination experience in both the public and private sectors, Stuart White will address the issue of ‘Challenges of reprocessing robotic instruments’. These are complex, small instruments and, obviously, we need to ensure that robotic products are safely reprocessed.
The issue of biofilms never goes away, but again we are pushing back the boundaries this year as Isabella Centeleghe will present on ‘The underlying problem with dry surface biofilms on healthcare surfaces’. Be prepared to be mesmerised by Isabella’s talk and the infectious risk posed by dry surface biofilms. Isabella is a postdoctoral research assistant at Cardiff University, working on projects investigating the resistance of dry surface biofilms, to surface cleaning and disinfection. As you will hear, this is a relatively new topic in the field of infection prevention and control.
From dry biofilms we will slough over to wet biofilms, and I will be presenting on ‘Water supplies in the built environment — what are the risks?’ As current Chair of the CSC, I was very pleased and honoured to be asked to speak at this year’s conference. I will be discussing healthcare buildings and water systems in terms of infection risk, and will also cover issues related to Central Sterilising Supply Departments (CSSDs).
My next role will be to officiate at my last Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Club as CSC Chair. The CSC is an exceptional Club, and to be asked to be Chair, to serve the members, is an absolute honour and a once in a lifetime opportunity. It will be my great pleasure to hand over the ‘Chair’s Bell’ and, if you go down to the AGM on the Monday afternoon, then you will hear the name of the new Chair being announced. Excitingly, we will also be announcing the results of the CSC election for a new committee member — so lots of news at the AGM.
Drinks reception and dinner
At the end of the first day, we will be delighted to welcome you as delegates to the Mike Emmerson drinks reception, followed by the ASM Gala dinner and quiz (thanks to Mike Bowden). The evening will provide you with fun and entertaining opportunities to network with colleagues from across the decontamination sector, in a relaxed and informal setting.
On the second day, the main theme will be education, training, and competency. First up will be Patrick Dunn, who will describe ‘The evolving world of education and what to look out for next’. Patrick has been involved in digital technology and learning for 35 years, and his specialty is cultivating innovation in learning technology and connecting learning to organisational strategy.
Lena Cordie-Bancroft will discuss ‘Understanding each other — why using the correct terminology matters’. Lena is the Sector Lead for Medical Devices on BSI’s Knowledge Solutions division, responsible for working with industry and government to address challenges surrounding the development and designation of medical devices standards. Lena has a particular interest in terminology and why words matter, and how individual and varying interpretation can lead to misuse and, potentially, patient harm.
Former Chair of the CSC, Val O’Brien, will then introduce ‘The all-new compendium of Principles of Decontamination’. This replaces the Microbiology Advisory Committee manual, and has taken Val and the team a considerable amount of time to write — we are very grateful to the team involved, and look forward to hosting the new manual on the CSC website.
We all know the importance of training and education, and no more so than Jincy Jerry, who will present on ‘Probe decontamination: the importance of training and education’. Jincy is the Assistant Director of Nursing in Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) at the Mater University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
To finish off the education and training session, we will hear from two speakers. Paul Kaye, who has been developing tools for digitising the audit process for decontamination, will present on ‘Innovations in digital auditing’. Samantha Murray will share an ‘Introduction of the decontamination experience to the unsuspecting clinician’. Sam will discuss how she used her successful grant application from the CSC Hurrell-Simpson Award to further her career in decontamination. (You can submit applications via: centralsterilisingclub.org/csc-hurrell-simpson-award/).
And, of course, “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got”, so following the tea break you really are in for a surprise. We have arranged for the last session of the conference to be our infamous debate; you are in for a treat and you will most certainly want to hear this.
The Great Debate: patient safety
In the Great Debate: “This house believes that passionate idealism for sustainable decontamination threatens patient safety”, Mike Simmons will speak for the motion, and Mahmood Bhutta will speak against the motion, while you, our delegates, will decide the victor.
Mike is a Consultant in Public Health Microbiology from Wales, and a CSC committee member with an interest in sustainability and thinking outside the box. Mahmood is the inaugural Chair in ENT Surgery and Professor of Sustainable Healthcare at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, with a longstanding interest in environmental and labour rights harms caused by medical supply chains.
The CSC committee have organised some fantastic conferences over the last three years, and we hope that, with your input, the 2024 conference will push the boundaries even further. We have a fantastic range of topics and speakers lined up and this conference will be one of the decontamination highlights of the year.
If you work in decontamination, you will not want to miss such a great event. We look forward to seeing all our delegates at Gerrard’s Cross for this packed-out programme, including the CSC AGM and the annual quiz after the gala dinner. For more information, please visit: centralsterilisingclub.org/event/annual-scientific-meeting-2024/
Acknowledgement
This preview article first appeared in the March 2024 issue of HEJ’s sister title, The Clinical Services Journal. HEJ acknowledges the help of the editor of CSJ for allowing its re-publication here.