Compulsory external standardised education for decontamination sciences: going in the right direction or a step too far?

In the United States, approximately 46.5 million surgical and medical procedures, including approximately 5 million gastrointestinal endoscopies are performed annually (Rutala & Weber 2008). In contrast, there are some 4.2 million surgical operations carried out annually in England (RCS 2012). The majority of these procedures involve patient contact with reusable invasive medical devices (RIMDs). Over the past 15 years, there have been significant changes in guidance and legislation relating to decontamination processes, mainly resulting from the focus on variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) (NSH 2001, DH 2003) and the need to tackle increasing problems with healthcare associated infections (HCAIs). Therefore, with approximately 350 NHS hospitals in England alone (RCS 2012), there is potential for a major risk of cross contamination for patients and staff.