Infection Prevention and Control for Food, Childcare and Care Settings

Most infections that close a nursery, a care home or a kitchen spread the same few ways: on hands, on surfaces, and from people who came to work ill. This course shows non-clinical staff how to break that chain every day, with the official guidance behind each step.

Who this course is for

• Kitchen and catering staff in schools, nurseries, care homes and cafés
• Nursery and early years staff
• Cleaners, housekeepers and laundry staff
• Care-home support staff who are not clinical staff
• Supervisors and managers who need to know the rules on staying off work and outbreaks

What you’ll learn

• How infections spread, the chain of infection and the everyday standard precautions
• Common infections in food, childcare and care settings, including norovirus, flu and COVID-19
• When and how to wash your hands, when hand gel is enough, and respiratory hygiene
• Cleaning and disinfecting properly, colour coding, cleaning up vomit and diarrhoea, and laundry
• Which PPE for which risk, putting it on and taking it off, and handling waste and sharps safely
• The 48-hour rule, UKHSA exclusion periods, outbreaks, vaccinations and who is responsible for what

How it works

Six lessons, each split into short topics with a “Remember” box at the end. Every lesson finishes with its own assessment of 10 questions drawn at random from its question bank, so no two attempts are the same. The course ends with a final exam of 20 questions drawn from a bank of more than 40 covering everything. The pass mark is 80% and you get three attempts at each assessment. Finish the course and your certificate, with your name and a reference anyone can check, is issued to My Account → Certificates.

12 months’ access · any device · certificate the moment you pass

Worth being clear about: this is knowledge training for non-clinical staff. It is not clinical training, it is not a regulated qualification, and it supports, but does not replace, your workplace’s own infection control policies and procedures.

Course content

• Before you startLesson
• How infections spreadLesson
• What causes infectionTopic
• The chain of infectionTopic
• How germs travelTopic
• Who is more at riskTopic
• Standard precautions: the everyday basicsTopic
• Scenario: Sick in the book cornerTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Links in the chainTopic
• Lesson Assessment: How infections spreadQuiz
• Common infections in food, childcare and care settingsLesson
• Stomach bugs: norovirus, rotavirus and other causes of diarrhoea and vomitingTopic
• Food poisoning and E. coliTopic
• Colds, flu and COVID-19Topic
• Stopping respiratory infections spreadingTopic
• Scarlet fever, strep A and chickenpoxTopic
• Hand, foot and mouth, impetigo, conjunctivitis and head liceTopic
• Scenario: A cough on the first floorTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Stay away or come in?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: Common infections in food, childcare and care settingsQuiz
• Hand hygiene and respiratory hygieneLesson
• Why clean hands matterTopic
• What you need to wash your handsTopic
• When to wash your handsTopic
• How to wash your handsTopic
• Hand sanitiser: when to use it, and its limitsTopic
• Catch it. Bin it. Kill it. And let fresh air inTopic
• Scenario: The lunchtime rushTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Soap or hand gel?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: Hand hygiene and respiratory hygieneQuiz
• Cleaning, disinfection and spillsLesson
• Cleaning and disinfecting are not the sameTopic
• Colour coding, cloths and cleaning schedulesTopic
• Using cleaning chemicals safely (COSHH)Topic
• Cleaning up vomit and diarrhoeaTopic
• Dirty laundryTopic
• Keeping toilets, nappy areas and kitchens apartTopic
• Scenario: Ten minutes before lunchTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Clean up a vomit spillTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Cleaning, disinfection and spillsQuiz
• Personal protective equipment and wasteLesson
• Which PPE for which risk?Topic
• Using PPE properlyTopic
• Putting on and taking off PPETopic
• Who is responsible for PPE?Topic
• Why waste management mattersTopic
• Types of waste, their risks and how to manage themTopic
• Scenario: Changing the bed in Room 4Topic
• 🎮 Practice: Taking PPE offTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Personal protective equipment and wasteQuiz
• Staying off work, outbreaks and who does whatLesson
• Food handlers and the 48-hour ruleTopic
• How long to stay away: UKHSA exclusion periodsTopic
• Outbreaks and the health protection teamTopic
• VaccinationsTopic
• Who does what: employers, staff and visitorsTopic
• Risk assessment and infectionTopic
• Scenario: A message before breakfastTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Who does what?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: Staying off work, outbreaks and who does whatQuiz
• Course summaryLesson
• Final examQuiz