How you can help

Patients and visitors also have a vital role to play in helping to support healthcare staff to prevent infection.

Hand hygiene

Keeping hands clean while visiting or staying in hospital is the single most important thing you can do to protect yourself and others from infection. We advise patients and visitors to clean their hands before eating, before and after visiting, and after using the toilet.

Whilst in hospital

  • Personal hygiene is important when you are in hospital. This is helped by bringing in your own toiletries and not sharing them with other patients.
  • It’s ok to ask. Healthcare staff can help protect you by cleaning their hands. Do not be afraid to ask staff if they have cleaned their hands, and please do challenge staff if you do not see them cleaning their hands.
  • Where possible keep your bed space uncluttered, to enable a high standard of cleaning to be undertaken.
  • If you or your visitors have concerns about the cleanliness of the healthcare environment, please report this to the nurse / midwife in charge.
  • Dispose of any used tissues immediately into the waste bag provided.

Visitors

  • Please refrain from visiting if you have been unwell in the previous 48 hours, particularly if you have had diarrhoea, vomiting, or symptoms of a respiratory virus infection.
  • If you are visiting a patient being cared for in an isolation room / ward, please speak to the nurse / midwife in charge before visiting.
  • For the safety of yourself and others, follow any additional guidance you are given to prevent transmission of infection in the healthcare setting you visit (for example, wearing of facemasks during periods of high respiratory virus infection prevalence).