'Zero tolerance' to fight killer bugs

Published on Wednesday 25 March 2009 21:12

HOSPITAL visitors and staff are to be targeted in a "zero tolerance" drive to make people wash their hands to cut the spread of deadly infections.

Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, said yesterday it was "perfectly legitimate" for hospital workers to ask visitors to wash their hands, as she unveiled what was described as the "hardest-hitting awareness campaign" ever to be run on the issue in Scottish hospitals.

Evidence shows that serious infections including MRSA, C difficile and E coli can be spread on people's hands.

Health boards will be sent 70,000 posters, stickers and large hanging banners to be displayed on wards and throughout hospitals, targeting not just clinical staff but also porters, cleaners and other workers.

The 200,000 campaign will also encourage hospital visitors to follow the hand-washing regime and stop family and friends spreading infections.

One poster says: "Don't Bring Them Another Illness." Another, directed at staff, instructs: "Start your life-saving at the sink."

Posters will be put up in shops and business near hospitals to target staff and visitors on their way to see patients.

Ms Sturgeon, speaking at a Health Protection Scotland conference in Glasgow, said it was vital that everyone entering hospitals knew the importance of good hand hygiene.

"Zero tolerance is, in part, about giving everybody the green light to challenge non-compliance with hand hygiene," she said. "I do not expect NHS staff to start being rude to members of the public, but it is perfectly legitimate for staff to point out the importance of hand hygiene and to request that people wash their hands in hospitals, just as I believe its perfectly acceptable for members of the public to do the same to NHS staff.

"The message we are trying to get across is that it is everybody's business and everybody's responsibility."

Ms Sturgeon said she thought it was unlikely that visitors would refuse to wash their hands if asked, requiring further action from staff.

"I think the public want to do everything they can to improve infection control in hospitals," she said. "Often, if someone is not washing their hands, it is not as a result of any deliberate, wilful refusal – it's because they forget."

NHS figures earlier this year showed that doctors were still falling short of a target of 90 per cent compliance with hand hygiene practices. The national figure for nurses sticking to the routine is 95 per cent, but for doctors it is 84 per cent. Staff who persistently fail to follow the rules could face disciplinary action.

Ross Finnie, the Liberal Democrats' health spokesman, accused ministers of failing to get tough enough with hospital visitors.

Jackson Carlaw, Conservative public health spokesman, said that while hygiene was a major consideration in tackling infections, other measures were needed.

"An electronic bed management system, as successfully piloted at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, is an ideal way of monitoring infection trends on a bed-by-bed basis, which could make an enormous difference," he said.