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Help us fight infection

What patients can do to help us fight infection

  • Please bring your own toiletries with you to hospital and only use your own. Please do not share your toiletries with other patients or leave them in communal areas
  • Liquid soap is preferred to bar soap as it is less likely to become contaminated
  • Please bring only essential items into hospital, to avoid the bed space becoming cluttered and difficult to clean
  • Please make sure you wear shoes or slippers when you get out of bed and please remove footwear when you get back onto or into bed
  • Please do not sit on other patients' beds
  • Ask a nurse if you need any help to wash your hands after using the toilet/commode or before meals
  • You have the right to ask any member of hospital staff if they have cleaned their hands, or any relevant items of equipment, before they attend to you. Please speak to a relevant member of staff if you feel uncomfortable asking this
  • If you have any concerns whatsoever about cleanliness or tidiness, please tell us by speaking to the nurse in charge
  • Sometimes you may be asked to move to a different bed or ward, or you may be asked not to visit other patients in the ward or other wards. This is to help control the spread of infection

Video: break the chain

The break the chain video shows how easy it is for hospital-acquired infections like MRSA and Clostridium difficile to be spread.

Please make sure you wash your hands and use the alcoholic hand gels when visiting our hospitals.

Last reviewed: 23 January 2024