Infection Prevention and Control
Scope:
Health Standards Organization (HSO) is developing a National Standard of Canada (NSC) for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), CAN/HSO 4001:2026. This standard will focus on enabling high quality, people-centred care with clear requirements and accountabilities to support patients/clients/residents and families, teams, leaders, governance bodies and stakeholders as they work together towards achieving personalized and safe IPC care practices and services. The standard will reflect the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and cultural safety; coordinated care and integrated services; a healthy, safe, and competent workforce, and a quality improvement and outcomes-focused culture. The standard will address planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating the impact of the IPC program for all care settings across the lifespan, inclusive of pandemic planning.
This new standard would replace: Infection Prevention and Control HSO 4001:2018, Infection Prevention and Control for Aboriginal Substance Misuse Services HSO 22022:2018, and Infection Prevention and Control for Community-Based Organizations HSO 34011:2018.
Project need:
HSO’s current Infection Prevention and Control standards are widely used by various stakeholders and service providers across Canada and internationally. These standards are regularly reviewed and updated and are due for revision.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly heightened the need and demand for an updated, evidence-based IPC standard. The pandemic has demonstrated an IPC standard is a critical component of an effective healthcare system. Canada’s collective response across all healthcare and social service settings has driven innovation in infection prevention practices, necessitating an update to the current HSO standards. Furthermore, the pandemic provided valuable lessons learned, particularly in caring for vulnerable populations. These lessons are informing future pandemic preparedness and management strategies.
Additionally, the Public Health Agency of Canada’s 2023-2024 Departmental Plan emphasizes the importance of Infection Prevention and Control, positioning it as a core element of national public health policy. This alignment with the federal plan and priorities makes updating HSO’s IPC standard even more critical.
Note: The information provided above was obtained by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and is provided as part of a centralized, transparent notification system for new standards development. The system allows SCC-accredited Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), and members of the public, to be informed of new work in Canadian standards development, and allows SCC-accredited SDOs to identify and resolve potential duplication of standards and effort.
Individual SDOs are responsible for the content and accuracy of the information presented here. The text is presented in the language in which it was provided to SCC.