To get health care workers to wash their hands properly and to raise awareness of the issue among patients, needed a major and lasting solution. So the NPSA conducted a national survey among NHS infection control teams to gauge views on what should be done.
Previous research had already highlighted the value of hygiene information at the ‘point of care’ - on the ward where a patient is in physical contact with a healthcare worker.
The NPSA initiative was developed by the NPSA’s infection control specialist Julie Storr and Gabrielle Teague, a specialist in social marketing. “This was to be a behavioural change initiative,” explains Teague, the clean your hands joint project coordinator. “A big, multi-modal intervention positioned as a campaign and comprising more than 30 different elements, some of which would be marketing materials.”
The objective was to develop a pilot campaign and evaluate its effectiveness and impact among staff and patients. The suitability of each element would then be assessed ahead of a roll-out across NHS hospitals throughout England and Wales from 2004. The intention was that the NPSA would develop, test and refine the solution, while implementation would be handled by the NHS.
