When the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) was formed in 2006, there was no systematic Australia-wide approach to the measurement of patient harm caused by healthcare associated infection (HAI). There was considerable variation in resources and in the scope of surveillance undertaken in different parts of Australia, despite widespread activity in most jurisdictions, many individual initiatives and the publication of a number of national reports ^1,2,3,4 The resources invested in HAI also differed across the country.
In 2007 the ACSQHC HAI program commenced with the aim of developing a national approach to reducing HAI. Five key initiatives - the National Surveillance System Project, National Infection Control Guidelines Project, Building Clinician Capacity Project and Antimicrobial Stewardship Project - have been developed to support the HAI program objectives.

To date a series of initiatives have been completed:
Ø Publication of Reducing Harm to Patients from Healthcare Associated Infections: the role of surveillance
Ø Engagement of NHMRC to update the National Infection Control Guidelines
Ø Review of Australian Infection Control Programs:
Ø Literature review of The Infection Control Practitioners' Scope of Practice
Ø Publication of Australian model for Infection Prevention and Control Programs in Acute Hospitals
Ø Engagement of Hand Hygiene Australia to undertake a national initiative including
o implementation manual and website
o targeted education modules
o development of audit tools with related training program
Ø National Data Collection with agreed definitions for Hand Hygiene Compliance, Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and Clostridium difficile rates
Ø Costing of surgical site surveillance, antimicrobial usage and organism resistance

Current work includes:
Ø Development of educational modules for novice infection control practitioners
Ø Proposal to Australian Health Ministers on further national surveillance
Ø Publication on antimicrobial stewardship
Ø Development of infection control standards and indicators for accreditation

Footnotes:
1. Australian Infection Control Association Expert Working Group (2001). National Surveillance of Health Care Associated Infection in Australia. A report to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra.
2. JETACAR Report (1999) The Use of Antibiotics in Food-producing Animals: Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria in Animals and Humans.
3. Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care (2003) National Strategy to Address Health Care Associated Infections
4. EAGAR (2006) Comprehensive Integrated Surveillance Program to Improve Australia's Response to Antimicrobial Resistance