Something as simple as effective handwashing can save lives in hospitals. NPSA, the special health authority charged with improving patient care and safety, wanted to get this message across to hospital staff and patients.
The result was a pilot campaign – ‘clean your hands’ which research showed, if replicated nationally, could save 450 lives and the NHS, £140 million a year. Although participation in the campaign is voluntary, over 99% of NHS trusts in England and 100% in Wales are now implementing it.
Encouraging healthcare workers to wash their hands properly sounds simple. But hand hygiene is a complex and sensitive issue to address.
Although guidelines have been in place for many years and successful initiatives run in many NHS Trusts, a major factor inhibiting improvement has been lack of the long-term investment and focus. A lack of sinks, time pressures, and low awareness of the role of hands in spreading the bugs that can cause Healthcare Associated Infection (HCAI) such as MRSA, has made this most basic and essential of regimens difficult to achieve.
Also complicating the issue are ingrained hospital hierarchies which mean patients don’t question the way nurses do their job, nurses don’t question doctors, and doctors don’t question consultants.
Yet hand hygiene is a major concern for healthcare providers. In the UK, an estimated 5,000 deaths each year are caused by HCAI, which is now believed to cost the NHS £1billion annually.
The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), a special health authority established in 2001 to improve safety for all NHS patients, set out to change understanding and behaviour and to promote hand cleaning generally. Although making handrubs widely available was to be the cornerstone of its campaign, success would also depend on raising awareness among healthcare workers and patients.
