Sally Palmer: Many Hats, One Mission - Inside Infection Control

Sally Palmer: Many Hats, One Mission - Inside Infection Control

From Only Human After All by James Thomas

February 21, 2026 · 27 min · Episode 28

About this episode

Sally Palmer discusses her role in infection prevention and control, highlighting the importance of her work and the lessons learned from COVID-19.

In this episode, we meet Sally Palmer, Nurse Consultant in Infection Prevention and Control. Most people never see what Sally does - and if she's doing it well, they never will. Because the best infection control is invisible. Sally's work runs at 100 miles an hour. Checking overnight results. Investigating outbreaks. Building water safety protocols. Designing ventilation specs for new buildings. Working with charities on antimicrobial resistance that crosses from animals to humans through the food chain. No two days are the same. Get it right and nobody notices. Get it wrong and people die. We explore what happens in labs (Sally recommends everyone visit at least once), why regional teams standardise policies so patients get the same care wherever they go,and what COVID taught us that IPC teams already knew. From St John Ambulance as a child to wearing countless hats now, Sally reminds us that prevention has always been the mission.

People in this episode

Guest: Sally Palmer

Topics covered

  • infection control
  • healthcare
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • COVID-19
  • public health

Keywords

  • Nurse Consultant
  • prevention
  • safety protocols
  • ventilation
  • outbreak investigation

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