September 2007 saw a significant development in the field of infection prevention and control, with the launch of the Infection Prevention Society (IPS). This exciting development completes the transformation of the Infection Control Nurses Association (ICNA) into an organisation that welcomes as full members all professionals working in the field of infection prevention and control.

The ICNA was formed in 1970, to provide a network for infection control nurses to meet and share learning together. Over the past 37 years it has grown to become the leading nursing organisation in the UK in the field of infection prevention and control. In 2006 the membership of the ICNA recognised that many other disciplines and roles have emerged within the field of infection prevention and control and that all would benefit from each other through membership of the same organisation.

Whilst infection prevention and control nurses will, no doubt, remain the backbone of the new Infection Prevention Society (IPS), as they are within the infection control team in the workplace, it is hoped that many new members will join from other professions. For the first time, Directors of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC), infection control managers, infection control doctors, link practitioners, audit and surveillance practitioners, antimicrobial pharmacists, scientists, educationalists and researchers can all join the IPS as full members. Combining such expertise in one organisation can provide benefits for all and facilitate the embedding of an infection prevention culture in health care. There is currently no national forum for DIPC’s who are not specialist infection prevention professionals, yet many Directors of Nursing and Medical Directors have taken on this role within Trusts. The IPS will provide an effective forum for DIPC’s who choose to join the society, enabling networking throughout the UK and Eire with other DIPC’s and a broad range of staff who have specialist expertise in infection prevention.

The ICNA had achieved recognition as the leading nursing organisation in the field of infection prevention and control in the UK and its expertise has been sought by government, voluntary and commercial bodies. This expertise will be further enhanced through the expanded membership of the IPS. We invite you to join us as a member of this exciting new society, and help us shape the future of infection prevention as we move into a new era.

The new IPS website address is www.ips.uk.net

The National Resource for Infection Control (NRIC) was launched in May 2005 in response to National Audit Office (2000/04) recommendations for a national infection control manual. The project is funded by the Department of Health (UK) and endorsed by the UK's National electronic Library of Infection which covers a broad range of infectious diseases and provides a single access point to the best available resources on infection.

The overall aim is to provide relevant evidence based, policy, guidance and quality information, published within the last 5 years (where possible) on infection prevention and control and related infectious diseases to IC and other healthcare professionals in a timely manner. The provision of a portal where local evidence based, quality assured local trust policies and guidelines can be shared between infection control professionals has been a useful addition to the site and aims to help reduce the time spent by IC professionals “re-inventing the wheel”. Much of NRIC’s content is shared with the host site (NeLI) and increasingly research papers on NeLI are also relevant to NRIC users.