Infection Control

Help us to prevent Hospital Acquired Infections

We pride ourselves on having very low infection rates and doing everything we can you keep you safe. We need your help to make sure we keep infection rates down. When you come to the hospital as a patient or visitor please make sure you use the Gel provided in all areas to clean your hands.

Please help us protect our patients!

We are always looking for ways to improve the ways we care for our patients, and particularly in making sure that they are safe from infection.

There is a lot of strong evidence from the World Health Organisation and the National Patient Safety Agency that good hand hygiene is the best way of preventing patients picking up an infection while they are in hospital.

Use hand gel on the wards to prevent infection

There are literally hundreds of hand cleaning gel dispensers throughout our hospitals and wash hand basins close to every bed for everyone to use when they come into contact with patients.

And that means everyone - doctors, nurses, therapists, visitors - absolutely everyone.

You will find the hand cleaning gel dispensers in these places:

• Attached to the bottom of each bed
• At the entrance to all wards and department, including clinics, arrival lounge, discharge lounge, X-ray and therapies
• Outside food outlets and shops
• Where people wait - for instance by a lift

CLEAN HANDS SAVES LIVES!

Please make sure that you use them, and always wash your hands if you are coming into contact with a patient.

In the past we have had the hand cleaning gel dispensers at the entrances to our hospitals but we have found that they can distract people from using the gel at the bedside. So we have removed them from the entrances to Maidstone Hospital and as a matter of policy have never installed them at Tunbridge Wells Hospital.

Please help us protect our patients - and if you see anyone touching a patient without cleaning their hands first, please challenge them and report it to a nurse or ward manager.

Thanks for your help.
The Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust Infection Control Team

Information:

Contact the Infection Control Team via our switchboard on 0845 155 1000

For Weekly infection rates click here

All patients coming into hospital will be screened for MRSA, to see our screening protocol click here. To see our compliance statement click here.