What can you do to help control infection?

Patients

• Help us to prevent infections by maintaining high standards of hand hygiene
• If you have not seen our staff clean their hands before they touch you please just say ‘Have you cleaned your hands?
• Always wash your hands after going to the toilet and before touching food.
• Please use the alcohol gel provided at the entrances to wards and departments.
• You should wash your hair and take a bath or shower as usual at home before coming in for surgery.
• If you are an inpatient, please keep your bed space free of clutter to enable domestics to perform high standards of cleanliness.
• Please tell a member of staff if you notice anywhere that has not been cleaned properly – such as the ward, bathrooms or toilets.  
• If you have diarrhoea please tell the nursing staff.
• Patients must always feel confident to raise concerns and ask questions.

Visitors

• Please do not visit the hospital if your are unwell with cold-like symptoms or diarrhoea and vomiting symptoms.
• Please do not sit on the bed, if there are no chairs available please ask a member of staff to provide you with one.
• Any children visiting must be supervised all the time, so that they do not touch equipment or dressings.
• Make sure you wash your hands on the ward or use alcohol gel before and after visiting a patient in hospital, and follow advice on notices on side room doors.
• We request that no more than two visitors at any time around the bed, this helps us to clean the hospital effectively.
• Please help patients to keep their bed space uncluttered to enable domestics to perform high standards of cleanliness.