This month, the Healthcare Infection Society (HIS) and the Infection Prevention Society (IPS) are pleased to present newly updated NICE accredited guidelines for the prevention and control of Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in healthcare settings. This guideline has been produced by key experts on the front-line of patient care, and can be downloaded for free from the Journal of Hospital Infection website here.

MRSA infections remain a serious cause of healthcare-associated infection globally. While the incidence is decreasing, this remains an important concern for IPC professionals. The updated guideline is therefore key reading for IPC professionals.

To support you in reading and digesting the recommendations of the new guideline, we invite you to browse our MRSA resources page, which contains supporting material to help you navigate and explore the text.

Joint HIS/IPS Working Party members have summarised the key recommendations of the updated guideline document into a useful online Q&A, allowing you to pinpoint the answers you need on topics such as patient and staff screening, patient management, testing strategies, decolonisation, reduction of environmental contamination, surveillance, and the information needs of patients and healthcare professionals.

A downloadable one-page summary of the procedures and precautions recommended to prevent the spread of MRSA is designed to be printed and used as a handy reference point for clinical staff and, in particular, IPC teams who have already read the full guidance.

In collaboration with patient groups and MRSA Action UK, we have developed two patient leaflets to assist you in addressing the information needs of your patients: ‘MRSA’, which answers general questions about the MRSA, and ‘MRSA positive? Here’s what to do’, which offers advice and reassurance for patients colonised with MRSA.

Finally, you can watch our new Spotlight on Guidelines webinar series: the first webinar, ‘MRSA IPC management of patients and staff’, was held on 3 November 2021 and is now freely available to view online. The second in the series, ‘MRSA Screening, surveillance and the environment’, will be held on the 24 November, with registration open now.

This is a living resource page, and we will add more content as it is made available – so do check back when you can!