These guidelines, commissioned by the Department of Health (England), were starting point for what we now describe as the epic initiative and are available on this site.  The guidelines address the standard principles underlying the prevention of hospital acquired infections as well as specific recommendations in relation to the use of short term indwelling urethral catheters and central venous catheters.

These guidelines were published as a supplement to the January 2001 issue of the Journal of Hospital Infection.

Pratt RJ, Pellowe CM, Loveday HP, Robinson N, Smith GW and the epic guideline development team. The epic Project: Developing National Evidence-based Guidelines for Preventing Healthcare associated Infections. J Hosp Infect 2001); 47 (supplement): S1-82