On Wednesday 18th March, we had the pleasure of facilitating the DRIPP collaborative workshop, "Moving Forwards". The event welcomed over 50 delegates from across healthcare, including colleagues from urology, vascular access teams, infection prevention and control (IPC), and the acute, community, and private sectors.

The programme featured a range of insightful presentations, including updates on the progress of the DRIPP collaborative, an overview of the NHS 10-year plan, infection prevention and control surveillance, sustainability and value-based procurement.

Throughout the day, delegates had valuable opportunities for networking, as well as participation in case study judging. The afternoon featured an interactive escape room activity, where participants worked through a scenario using DRIPP resources. Teams collected letters to solve an anagram, ultimately spelling the organism Stenotrophomonas—a fun and engaging way to reinforce learning.

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.

Read our testimonials

'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