Preventing infections         

• Reducing the risk of infection in our services is a priority and all staff receive training on infection prevention and control and should be able to answer any questions or concerns you may have.This information explains what our staff do to keep you safe, as well as what you and your visitors can do to help us prevent infections.What can you do to help reduce the spread of infection:
  • Personal hygiene is very important whilst you are in hospital. Ensure you bring personal toiletries with you. Do not share toiletries with other patients
  • Always have wipes available for hand hygiene. This is especially important if you are confined to bed.
  • Always wash your hands before meals and after using the toilet, coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose or if hands are visibly dirty.
  • Avoid touching your wounds, drips, catheters or tubes.
  • If you have an intravenous cannula (line/drip) placed in your vein and you experience pain, swelling, or redness around the site or the area feels hot or you feel hot/cold/shivery or if the dressing is wet/dirty, or falls off- inform the nurse immediately.
  • If a member of staff needs to examine you or perform a procedure do not be afraid to remind then to clean their hands, if you have not seen them do so. It’s ok to ask!
  • Try to keep your bed area free from clutter. This will allow the area to be cleaned properly.
  • If you have any concerns with the standard of cleanliness, please inform the staff.
  • If you have a change of bowel habit or diarrhoea, please inform the nurse immediately.

Visitors can also help reduce the spread of infection by:

• Using the alcohol hand rub before entering and leaving the ward. Alternatively, they can wash their hands using soap and water.
• Not visiting if they have symptoms such as diarrhoea, vomiting, respiratory symptoms or an unexplained rash.
• Not sitting on your bed. If there are no chairs available, they should ask a member of staff.
• Help keep the top of your locker, bed table and the area around your bed clutter free.

What staff should do to prevent the spread of infection:

• Wash their hands or use alcohol gel before they touch you.
• Only wear gloves when there is a risk of contact with blood/bodily fluids or broken skin, in contact with chemical hazards, when undertaking a sterile procedure. Gloves use reduces the opportunity to wash hands, increases environmental spread of infection and increases the risk of skin conditions in staff such as dermatitis.
• Offer hand wipes before meals, please ask if you are not given one and cannot wash your hands.
• Ensure the ward environment is clean and free from hazards.

Please speak to your doctor or nurse if you have any questions or concerns about infection prevention and control or other aspects of your care.

Guidance for visitors

• Please do not bring any infection in with you. If you have an infection such as a cold, try not to visit until you are completely better.
•  If you have had symptoms of vomiting or diarrhoea, do not visit until you have been better for 48 hours.
• Do not sit or lie on a patient’s bed. Please use the chairs that are provided.
• Please help us keep the environment clean and tidy. Dispose of waste (for example used tissues or sweet wrappers) in the waste bins provided.
• Use the alcohol hand gels when entering and leaving wards/departments. To use the hand gel place a squirt of the gel onto the palm of one hand then rub hands vigorously together covering all areas of your hands and fingers. Keep rubbing your hands together until the gel evaporates. This takes 20-30 seconds.
• Comply with visiting times. During outbreaks, visiting may be restricted to prevent spread.
• While you are visiting, please do not use the patient toilet facilities. There are separate toilets for visitors.
• We do not support food being brought in from home. However, we do recognise that this does happen. Please note that we cannot reheat any foods not prepared in the hospital nor share them with other patients.

Guidance for patients

• Please keep your room reasonably free of objects to help the housekeeping staff keep the environment clean and limit the amount of personal belongings that are brought into hospital. Storage on the wards is limited and it becomes difficult to clean the area if it is cluttered.
• If you or your visitors are concerned that something has not been cleaned, please tell the ward staff and they will attend to it as soon as possible.
• Make sure you always wash your hands or use a hand wipe after using the toilet and before meals.
• Always wear something on your feet when walking around our premises and leave them on the floor when you’re not wearing them.
• It is important if you have a cold or flu like symptoms to remember your respiratory hygiene. Catch it, kill it, bin it. Remember, please use a tissue and dispose of it safely in a bin and wash your hands regularly.
• Patients should avoid sitting on beds belonging to other patients.
• Please do not share toiletries with other patients.
• If you have any wound dressings, stitches, drips or catheters, try not to touch them unnecessarily.
• Please help us keep our hospitals clean and tidy.
• Inform a member of staff if you have been experiencing symptoms of diarrhoea/ vomiting or cold/flu like symptoms.
• If a member of staff needs to examine you or perform a procedure, do not be afraid to remind them to clean their hands if you are worried, they may have forgotten. It’s Okay to ask!