The Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has received national recognition for excellent work around infection prevention and control.

The trust's Infection Prevention and Control Team have been named as the top Acute Trust in the category of Infection Prevention Team of the Year at the Infection Prevention Society annual meeting and awards event this week.

Although the team officially came second in the category, the winning team were from Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, making the MTW team the best Acute Trust nationally.

The award ceremony took place on Tuesday, September 30 in Glasgow and was attended by Dr Sara Mumford, Sarah Fielder and Jacqui Griffin from the team.

They were recognised for clear focus, effective teamwork, leadership and their ‘design and implementation of a rapid improvement programme which has had a dramatic impact on both infection and cross infection’.

Dr Sara Mumford, director of infection prevention and control said: “We are absolutely delighted to have come second, nationally, in this category. It is fantastic that all the hard work put in over several years has been recognised.

“The award is very much the result of effort and hard work by all of our staff across our hospitals, so it’s wonderful news for the whole Trust, not just our team.”

The Infection Prevention Society (IPS) Awards are in their second year and recognise excellence, energy and results, in the field of infection prevention and control.