This page is designed to answer the following questions:
- 3.2 Explain the potential impact of an outbreak of infection on the individual and the organisation (Level 2 Diploma in Care, The principles of infection prevention and control)
An outbreak of infection can potentially have a devastating effect on both the individual that you care for and the organisation that you work for.
An infection can be fatal to the individual if action is not taken swiftly and will also cause ill-health to varying degrees. Illness will have a knock-on effect to other areas of an individual’s life, preventing them from attending activities or maintaining relationships as well as affecting their ability to care for their own dependents. Being ill can also affect individuals emotionally reduce and reduce their quality of life. There may be lasting of effects of the infection that they will have to live for for the rest of their lives. It may also result in them requiring to be isolated from others to prevent the spread of infection.
Without proper precautions, infection can be passed onto others resulting in a large number of staff being unable to work. An organisation could lose money as a result of this as they would have to employ additional staff and they may even be fined for not taking the correct precautions. It could potentially damage the organisation’s reputation, especially if it is discovered that they could have done more to prevent the outbreak.