Clinical & Infection Control Advice and Policies

Reviewed December 2024
This page will be updated June 2025

There is a suite of infection control guidelines available on Staff Hub, Trust Documents/Infection Control. There is also a Resource page on Trustnet which links to guidance on outbreak management and the relevant documentation.  Seasonal updates, news and easy reference guides are also posted here and updated on a frequent basis.

Infection Prevention and Control Team can be contacted by Tel: 32115 between 8am to 5pm, or via Switchboard until 9pm daily.

Empirical antimicrobial treatment guidelines

The trust has empirical antimicrobial treatment guidelines for prescribers. These are available via the trust sharepoint homepage and on the Eolas Medical webpage. The guidelines are also available as a smartphone app. Users need to download the app for their device by searching for “Eolas Medical”. Once the app is installed, follow the link below to access the guidance for University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust from the list of available guidelines. Once downloaded, these guidelines are available to the user without an internet connection.

Go to Eolas Medical app for guidelines

Clinical microbiology advice

Clinical microbiology advice is available from the duty Consultant Microbiologist via ext 37745 between 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Urgent clinical advice is available 24/7 out of hours from the on-call Consultant Microbiologist via switchboard.

Statutorily notifiable diseases 

Telephone: 0300 303 8162 option 1 option 1. Address: UKHSA, Follaton House, Plymouth Road, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 5NE.

Certain infectious diseases are notifiable by law to the Proper Officer for the Local Authority area in which the patient lives, who is usually the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control (CCDC). The attending doctor who suspects the infection is legally responsible for this notification. In order to ensure prompt reporting, notification should occur on the basis of clinical suspicion and should not await Laboratory confirmation

The following diseases are notifiable under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984: Food poisoning (all sources), Cholera, Plague, Relapsing fever, Smallpox, Typhus

Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1988:
Acute Encephalitis, Acute Poliomyelitis, Anthrax, Diphtheria, Dysentery (Amoebic or Bacillary), Leprosy, Leptospirosis, Malaria, Measles, Meningitis, Meningococcal Septicaemia (without Meningitis), Mumps, Ophthalmia Neonatorum, Paratyphoid, Rabies, Rubella, Scarlet Fever, Tetanus, Tuberculosis, Typhoid, Viral Haemorrhagic Fever, Viral Hepatitis, Whooping Cough, Yellow Fever.

Cases of notifiable disease in Devon, either in hospital or the community, should be notified to UKHSA.