Jenny Child BA, PGCE

Jenny Child joined Harrogate and District Foundation Trust as Consultant Microbiologist in January 2016 and took over from Richard Hobson as Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC) at the beginning of March. Over the last sixteen years, Jenny has accrued wide experience in Infection Prevention and Control in acute hospitals of varying size and complexity, as both the Infection Control Doctor and DIPC.

Jenny Child also has had the privilege of being Editor in Chief of the Journal of Hospital Infection (the Green Journal) from 2011-2015. Whether we are really about to enter the ‘post-antibiotic era’ or not, we are seeing the spread in community settings of bacteria that are resistant to more and more antimicrobials, and are witnessing the re-emergence of old enemies such as TB and group A streptococci. As we’ve seen recently, new viruses such as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Ebola cause extensive fear, if not quite yet the damage that the more familiar flu and Norovirus do every year. Effective Infection Prevention and Control across the whole healthcare economy is more important than ever, and each and every one of us working for the NHS has our own unique part to play in that.