Critical aspects of microbial control

This year, the Central Sterilising Club's Annual Scientific Meeting took place at Gerrards Cross, bringing together leading experts in the field of decontamination and infection prevention. High on the agenda included discussion of the critical aspects of microbial control; risks relating to water supplies; the problem of biofilms; sustainable decontamination; low temperature sterilisation, training and competency; the role of digital technologies, and much more…

Opening the meeting was the CSC's outgoing Chair, Jimmy Walker, who stood down this year. His commitment to driving the CSC forward has seen the Club's educational programme go from strength to strength and continue to push the boundaries with original content — including steering the Club through some challenging times, during the pandemic, when the Club was quick to adapt to virtual study days.

Jimmy has brought to the role his many years of experience of working for Public Health England and the Department of Health, as a scientific leader in water microbiology and decontamination. He thanked the members for their continued support of the Annual Meeting — the "original decontamination forum" — and gave an emotional tribute to the late Graham Stanton, who sadly passed away unexpectedly on the 10th April. A committee member of CSC and a key leader within IHEEM for Authorising Engineers in Decontamination, Graham was remembered for being "a fantastic colleague", for his "phenomenal representation of decontamination across the UK", and for his "major contributions to CSC as a club member".