The DRIPP Collaborative would like to congratulate Dr Karen Harrold and Sharlene
Haywood for being awarded the Vascular Access Nurse of the Year and Nutrition
Nurse of the Year respectively. They received these prestigious awards at the recent
British Journal of Nursing Awards ceremony at the BMA House, London on 21 st
March 2025.
Karen is currently Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy & IV Access Nurse Consultant at
East & North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. Sharlene Haywood is currently Lead Nutrition
Clinical Nurse Specialist at Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust. Both
Karen and Sharlene are active members of the DRIPP Collaborative.
The Device Related Infection Prevention Practice: Managing Change Workshop was
held on 17th October 2024 at BD Headquarters, Wokingham.
The workshop was attended by over 80 specialist nurses, clinical educators and
frontline staff with involvement in managing patients with vascular access devices
and/or urinary catheters. Read about our feedback on the Events Page!
'The National Nurses Nutrition Group recently partnered with the DRIPP collaborative, and thus far it has been a beneficial alliance. Drawing together experts with a common goal to drive improvement in standards and patient care with vascular access devices. Patients receiving Parenteral Nutrition are susceptible to infection, so ensuring that evidence-based research is accessible and transferrable to patient care is essential. We look ahead to working with DRIPP partners to develop understanding in this area.'
Sharlene Haywood Treasurer of the NNNG and Sarah Brownlie Communications Officer of the NNNG
'The Infection Prevention Society is delighted to be a partner in the DRIPP improvement
collaborative which is focused on such an important area of infection prevention and control
(IPC) practice. Patients with invasive devices are highly vulnerable to healthcare associated
infection and there is a wealth of research evidence to show that the way that they are
managed significantly affects the risk of infection. Ensuring that evidence-based practice is
applied in the management of invasive devices is therefore fundamental to preventing
infection. DRIPP provides a unique opportunity for clinical experts to work together to
develop practical resources that will help clinical staff understand and apply best practice in
the care of invasive devices. This is such an important area of IPC and DRIPP will really make
a difference to the prevention of healthcare associated infection.'
Prof. Jennie Wilson, Past President of the Infection Prevention Society
'It is great to work with a variety of health care professionals from different societies and
associations, who had one common goal; to support the spread and adoption of best
practice to reduce device-related infections, thereby improving outcomes for patients with
urinary catheters and intravascular devices. At times there was lots of debates about what
should go into the documents but after healthy discussions agreements are achieved. It is a
privilege to be able to represent the Association of Continence Advice and British Association
of Urology Nurses on the group.'
Patricia McDermott, Consultant Clinical Nurse Specialist- Urology