Whittington Hospital 

• I WRITE in response to Dorothy Boswell’s letter (Look at the hand gel use at Whittington Hospital, September 19).

I am delighted that Ms Boswell has considered infection prevention and control so seriously, as does everyone here at Whittington Health NHS Trust.

When it comes to preventing healthcare associated infections we, like other NHS organisations across the country, have been adapting our approach in recent years based on the World Health Organisation’s best practice advice.

This means we have shifted our focus away from encouraging visitors to apply antiseptic gel to their hands on the way into our hospital to encouraging them to do so when closer to the patient (which we call “at the point of care”).

This means we now have gel dispensers at the entrances to all of our wards and units and beside each patient’s bed.

We also undertake regular audits to ensure that other important factors, such as the availability of hand washing facilities with soap, are available because hand gel is only part of the solution to preventing infections.

We have, however, retained the hand gel dispensers at the main entrance to our hospital and in the Emergency Department as a visible reminder of the need to ensure that everyone has clean hands. This is supporting us all to play a vital role in helping to keep our patients safe from harm.

MICHELLE JOHNSON
Chief Nurse and Director of Allied Health Professionals
Whittington Health NHS Trust