Porters are sometimes being assigned patient transfer jobs through CapMan without infection control attributes (e.g. COVID risk, C. diff, contact precautions) displayed. This means porters may not know the infection status of the patient until arrival, which is a risk to our patients and causes anxiety for our portering colleagues.

If infection attributes are missing, porters may not wear the correct PPE, clean equipment appropriately, or follow isolation transfer routes. This undermines infection control procedures, increases risk of cross-contamination, and places colleagues and patients at unnecessary risk.

This can be easily avoided by following these simple steps before submitting a portering request:

• Always check the infection attribute field and complete it accurately.
• If you’re unsure, confirm the patient’s infection status before sending the job.
• “Right details, safe transfers.”

Porter, Talib Rowlands, said: "When taking patients to wards from departments, we often don't find out if they are an infection risk until we get back to the ward - which can be too late. 

"This makes me anxious as it means I didn't take the proper precautions. So the infection could have spread to me, and I could have spread it around the hospital. In order to ensure patient and staff safety, this needs to change. Please help us by making sure the information we are given on CapMan is up-to-date."