In this episode, Martin Kiernan hosts a panel discussion at the 2026 Infection Prevention Society Conference in Brighton, United Kingdom.

The Panel comprised:

• Dr Stephane Bouchoucha, Associate Professor in Nursing and Associate Head of School (International) in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Deakin University in Melbourne, New South Wales Australia. Stephane is the current President of the Australasian College of Infection Prevention and Control


• Dr Mark Garvey, Consultant Clinical Scientist in Microbiology and  Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control for the Infection Prevention and Control Service at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB)


• Kerry Holden, Lead Nurse and Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. Kerry is the current IPS Vice-President.


• Dr Maura Smiddy,  Director of the MSc in Infection Prevention and Control at University College Cork in Ireland and Chair of the  IPS Research and Development Group.


• Lorraine Williams, Deputy Director of Infection Prevention & Control and Lead Nurse for IPC. Lorraine is a former IPS Vice-President.

Topics we discuss include:

• Why are infection rates not falling?


• What can be done to reduce infections in long-term care that require readmission to hospital


• If each panel member were given £1,000,000 for an implementation, what would they do?


• If each panel member had to stop doing something that the infection prevention team currently does, what would that be?