In the build up to the much-anticipated Infection Prevention Society (IPS) Conference in Liverpool next week, we decided to look back at some of the previous conferences and discuss (just a few) of GAMA’s highlights.

IPS has featured on the GAMA calendar since 2006 and we are proud to continue to support the IPS community as Platinum Sponsors for IP2021.

2006 – Brighton

The momentous year where we exhibited for the first time, but this was also the year that the Infection Control Nurses Association (ICNA) membership voted to expand the membership to include any health professionals employed in the field of infection prevention, resulting in the formation of the Infection Prevention Society.

2009 – Harrogate

The year we won our first Best Stand Award! Yes, we’ve won it a few times since and we proudly display all our trophies in the office. We love designing our stand and thank those that vote for us.

2013 – London

Professor Barry Cookson delivered the esteemed Ayliffe Lecture on the past, present and future of MRSA. Prof Cookson described the 1970s as the decade of complacency, the 1980s of re-emergence, the 1990s of dawning realization, the 2000s of reactivity and the 2010s of uncertainty and concluded that we need to learn from the past to safeguard the future.

Martin Kiernan, our Clinical Director, delivered the prestigious E.M Cottrell Lecture, discussing the life and times of the urinary catheter, outlining the challenges surrounding urinary catheters and a remarkable lack of data and discrepancy of practice for such a high-risk healthcare intervention.

2014 – Glasgow

Dr David Weber tackled the longstanding question of whether contamination of hands or surfaces is more important in transmission. Dr Weber presented the compelling data that contaminated surfaces contribute to the transmission of some hospital pathogens and suggested a simple equation of ‘Product + Practice = Perfection’ is how you get the best out of hospital cleaning and disinfection. The ‘practice’ part of the equation relies on process repeatability, which is where new technologies such as automated room disinfection systems can help provide standardised solutions. We are delighted to have Dr Weber as our GAMA sponsored speaker this year.

2015 – Liverpool

Ronald Kremer (Médecins Sans Frontières) provided a unique and moving insight into their response to Ebola in West Africa. He summarised numerous clinical challenges, lack of transparency and the effects of Ebola deniers. Mark Gallagher, a Formula 1 executive, drew a series of thoughtful comparisons between F1 and healthcare, including great performance, robust, reliable systems and safety. He outlined that team leadership is crucial, and the ability to inspire their team is what sets a great driver apart from a good driver.

We launched our EvaluClean audit system which proved very popular, with great feedback from our users on the frontline.

Finally, who could forget the Scientific Programme Committee injecting extra fun into the Monday fun night, we’ve never looked at an Air Steward the same since!

2016 – Harrogate

Prof. Gary French discussed the switch of focus from healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) caused by Gram-positive bacteria to HCAIs caused by Gram-negative bacteria such as Enterobacteriaceae and Acinetobacter baumannii. We also heard from Dr Kieran Hand who discussed the importance of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS). Dr Hand discussed AMS as being everyone’s responsibility and how national and international collaborations would drive AMS.

We were also busy utilising Clinell products to control the antimicrobial resistance army of microorganisms which descended on the conference – luckily, Clinell Universal and Sporicidal wipes were able to keep them under control!

2018 – Glasgow

Andreas Voss discussed the importance of waterless ICUs and reducing the rate of antibiotic resistant Gram-negative bacteria in the critical care setting. Brett Mitchell highlighted the use of social media for healthcare professionals, sharing interesting themes around real vs. fake news and the research outreach possibilities available.

The conference also hosted the inaugural Infection Prevention Show. We took part in our first ‘Pitch in 5’ event, where exhibitors were challenged to pitch a new innovation to IPS delegates. We presented our latest innovation in patient isolation, Rediroom. Rediroom is a mobile patient isolation device which can be deployed in under 5 minutes to provide rapid patient isolation. We were delighted that Rediroom won the vote as the best product in the ‘Pitch in 5’!

2021 – Liverpool

The much awaited annual IPS Conference is nearly here and we can’t wait to see what IP2021 brings. If you’re attending this year’s event, find us at stand 63! You can also stay up to date with all the latest action by following GAMA Healthcare on Twitter.