Infections and Immunology Health Network

Dr James Flexman, Lead

Our network is concerned with the delivery of patient-centred, sustainable and effective clinical services across all continuums of care involved in infections and immunology.

Our current projects and priorities are:

• Review underway of asplenia and hyposplenism guidelines
• Final draft of Anaphylaxis Model of Care completed
• Finalised mid-term review of the HIV, STI and Hepatitis C Model of Care Implementation plans and National Hepatitis B Strategy

These items are now available:

• Revised Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteraemia Guideline

We will also keep you informed about:

• Get the Facts: sexual health website for youth
• WA Multi-Resistant Organism (WAMRO) Expert Advisory Group

Review underway of asplenia and hyposplenism guidelines

We are currently reviewing guidelines for managing asplenia and hyposplenism in adults.

These guidelines, once completed and approved, are expected to assist clinicians to provide standardised care across WA for patients at increased risk of infection by encapsulated bacteria.

Final draft of Anaphylaxis Model of Care completed

Following extensive consultation and revision, the final draft of the Anaphylaxis Model of Care for WA has been completed.

The model draws upon local, state and international best-practice evidence in caring for people at risk of an anaphylaxis episode. The model describes the preferred interventions for patients along each stage of the disease continuum, from primary prevention through to ongoing care and anaphylaxis management.

The model has been submitted to the State Health Executive Forum for noting. We will keep you informed as to the progress of the Anaphylaxis Model of Care.

Finalised mid-term review of the HIV, STI and Hepatitis C Model of Care Implementation plans and National Hepatitis B Strategy

The mid-term reviews for the Hepatitis C, HIV and STI Models of Care Implementation Plan has now been completed and available online. This has included the Implementation plan for the National Hepatitis B Strategy.

The Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Program undertook a review of the four year implementation plans through a combination of stakeholder surveys and consultations, plus desk top reviews.  Against a range of key performance indicators, a number of action areas around disease management, tertiary prevention and clinical services management were identified.

The focus of the implementation plan is to address the needs of priority populations, and to consider the social and emotional impacts associated with managing the Hepatitis C Virus.
These plans will run until the end of June 2014 and are aligned with national Hepatitis and blood-borne virus strategies. The implementation plans  aim to reduce the transmission of sexually transmissible infections, blood-borne viruses, and the resulting morbidity, mortality and personal and social impacts.

Read these reviews here from the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus website.

Revised Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteraemia Guideline available

The WA Infectious Diseases Physicians Group has reviewed the Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteraemia Guideline.

The revised guideline is available via the Infections and Immunology webpage through the Health Networks website. Private pathology laboratories in WA have been contacted regarding this review and have had the revised Guideline brought to their attention.

A communication and dissemination strategy throughout health services is now being planned.

Get the Facts: website offers sexual health information for young people

The Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Program, Department of Health WA has developed the Get the Facts website (external site) to address sexual health and relationship issues for young people.

The website provides a range of information to help young people understand and deal with issues including:

• how to have safer sex (external site)
• relationships (external site), including how to get over a broken heart (external site)
• condoms and contraception (external site)
• puberty (external site)
• getting tattoos and piercings (external site).

Parents, carers and health professionals may find this a useful tool to help have these discussions with young people, or to simply point them in the right direction for accurate and reliable information on these issues.

WA Multi-Resistant Organism Expert Advisory Group

The WA Multi-Resistant Organism (WAMRO) Expert Advisory Group was convened in 2011 to provide advice on monitoring, prevention and control of multi-resistant organisms (MROs) from a state-wide perspective.

The group was established following a large vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) outbreak in 2010, with this item remaining high on the agenda. WAMRO provides this expert advice to all public and private healthcare facilities across the continuum of care including, but not limited to acute care, residential care and primary care.

One of the key issues that WAMRO is exploring is the emergence of new MROs, and establishing infection prevention strategies for the WA healthcare community.

One example is the so-called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) that are resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics available.

Laboratory capacity to detect CRE in WA has been strengthened and management guidelines for use by healthcare providers have recently been developed.

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