Structures, processes and outcomes for establishing a statewide infection prevention and control service for...

Healthcare-associated infections, communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance pose significant threats to the health and safety of people globally. In the Commonwealth of Australia, the responsibility for infection prevention and control governance at population levels is shared principally between state and federal governments, which work in concert to reduce the risk and impact of communicable disease within both healthcare and community settings. The federated nature of Australia with separation of powers between the jurisdictions and national government has led to variation in how these issues are managed within each of Australia's six states and two self-governing internal territories. In this paper, we use the Donabedian Framework to describe and document the structures, processes and outcomes of a newly established statewide infection prevention and control service, called the Queensland Infection Prevention and Control Unit. We canvas both the historical and contemporary landscape of infection prevention and control in Australia, and provide a comprehensive overview of the legislative and regulatory considerations that underpinned the new statewide infection prevention and control service in Queensland, Australia's third most populous state. We explore how this unit has been integrated into the broader health department, including existing communicable disease and surveillance bodies, and provide a brief overview of the preliminary outcomes achieved during the unit's first year of operation. In sharing our experiences, we hope to provide a useful resource for those in other jurisdictions nationally and globally undertaking similar ventures for prioritising infection prevention and disease control at population scale.