Hospitals in superbug purge

Hospital staff in Staffordshire are launching a week-long campaign aimed at fighting superbugs.

Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust, is running Infection Control Week urging patients, staff and visitors to join forces.

They want them to join in the battle against MRSA and Clostridium Difficile at Stafford and Cannock hospitals. Displays and talks about infection control and keeping the hospitals clean will be going on throughout the week which will be starting on Monday next week.

Among them will be a 'light box', with which patients, staff and visitors will be able to discover how well they are washing their hands.

Helen Moss, the trust's director of nursing, said: "When using the 'light box', hands are first coated in a glittery powder and after they have been washed, an ultra violet light will show up areas which have not been thoroughly cleaned.

"Thoroughly washing hands is the single most important thing staff, visitors and patients can do to stop the spread of infection.

"This is because every time a patient is touched by a healthcare professional or a visitor several thousand bacteria can be transmitted."

The trust's housekeepers, infection control nurses, Hospital Sterilisation and Disinfection Unit and laboratories will all be taking part in the displays, demonstrations and presentations, some of which will be in the reception areas of the hospitals.

On Wednesday at Cannock Chase Hospital there will be tours of the eye unit between 1.30pm and 5pm.

At Staffordshire General, on the same day a presentation called 'Through the Looking Glass' will run between 10am and 2pm at the hospital sterilisation and disinfection unit.

On Thursday activities will include an invitation for people to see 'behind the scenes' in the laboratories at Stafford.