The NHS should go further than disciplining staff for not washing their hands when walking between wards or as part of their day-to-day role. What about all the visitors?
On the numerous times I've visited people in hospital recently absolutely nobody washes their hands. The staff aren't doing it, and they're not asking hospital visitors to do it. I've seen ward sisters just sit at the reception desk, gazing glumly into the distance while strides of people walk through the door without giving a second thought to washing their hands. And nothing is done about it.
I remember on one occassion a bunch of builders turned up to visit their pal - they still had their overalls on with paint, dust and whatever else they'd picked up during their shift. They didnt wash their hands, weren't asked to wash their hands and certainly didnt think twice about walking through the ward full of critically ill people with all their dirty work clothes on.
Now I'm not blaming the builders per se - they weren't asked to follow any kind of rules so why should they?
But I've also witnessed nurses showing round new members of hospital staff. These people are going from ward to ward, from intensive care to critically ill and back to intensive care. Not once did they wash their hands. They should know better surely.
So discplining staff to do so is a good and obvious first step that should have been introduced years ago.
If the government and NHS trusts are serious about reducing the number of super-bug infections such as MRSA and C-difficile across the NHS, much stricter rules are needed when it comes to a simple one-minute task. Whether you're a member of staff or not: WASH YOUR HANDS.
