Our commitment to protecting you
We are committed to protecting patients, staff and visitors against the risk of acquiring an infection during their time with us. We do this by screening, monitoring of the appropriate use of antibiotics, following national guidance, audit, promoting hand hygiene and providing patient and staff education.
The single most important factor in reducing hospital acquired infections is good hand hygiene. Our staff must wash their hands immediately before and after every episode of direct patient contact/care and after any activity or contact that could potentially result in their hands becoming contaminated. They must also be bare below the elbows.
Please feel free to ask any member of staff (including doctors and nurses) if they have cleaned their hands before they examine or treat you. Be assured that this will not affect your care.
How you can help to reduce the spread of infection
Please make sure you clean your own hands with soap and water after using the toilet and before meals. If you cannot leave your bed a nurse will provide you with a packet of hand wipes.
Click to view some hand washing tips
Visitors
We ask that visitors:
- Clean their hands either with soap and water or the alcohol gel provided at the ward entrances, before and after visiting
- Contact the person in charge before or on arrival to the ward/department if they are unsure if the person they are visiting has an infection
- Do not to come to the hospital if they have been unwell in the last 48 hours, especially with a cold, diarrhoea or vomiting. They must wait until they have been clear of symptoms for at least 48 hours before visiting.
Information about conditions
Below are links to condition information on the NHS Choices website:
- Chickenpox
- Clostridium difficile (C.diff)
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
- Food poisoning
- Gastroenteritis (diarrhoea and vomiting)
