Magnificent May returns to spread awareness (not germs) about the importance of infection prevention and control. This year there will be a focus on hand hygiene with the launch of the updated hand hygiene tool towards the end of the month.

Infection Prevention and Control Clinical Nurse Specialist, Hariett Wimpenny, said: "Magnificent May is a time for colleagues to reflect on their practice, and learn new IPC initiatives and maintain the compassionate care we strive to give our patients. Infection control is everybody’s responsibility, and Magnificent May is here to remind us of that. The World Health Organisation slogan for this year says it well: hand hygiene saves lives."

To mark the month, our Infection Prevention and Control (IP&C) Team have organised plenty of activities for colleagues to get involved with. Here's what's coming up:

• The famous Magnificent May Wordsearch is back for HRI, CRH and community colleagues. You can join in by downloading the wordsearch below or by visiting the Infection Prevention intranet pages. Entries need to be sent to the Infection Prevention offices at your relevant site by Tuesday 26th May.
• Guests from Tork (our soap and hand gel provider) and Daniels (our sharps safety provider) will be coming to the main entrance at HRI and outside the main restaurant at CRH on the 7th, 18th and 20th of May. Demonstrations on sharps safety and hand hygiene will be available and there will be plenty of goodies being given out.
• The IP&C Team will be conducting an audit week commencing 18/05 where they will talk to colleagues about the new Hand Hygiene Tool and offer support around this.