Health care-associated infections in primary and community care.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence recently published guidelines for preventing health care-associated infections (HAIs) in primary and community care (NICE, 2003). These were commissioned by the Department of Health and NICE to complement previously published guidelines for preventing HAIs in hospitals (Pratt et al, 2001). The new guidelines aim to facilitate a seamless approach to using the best evidence for infection prevention practices as patients transfer between primary and secondary health care services. This article discusses the need for the guidelines and describes the methods used to develop them.