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The UK’s Leicestershire and Rutland community hospitals are to issue patients with individual blood pressure cuffs in a bid to reduce infections.
Leicestershire County and Rutland NHS Primary Care Trust said patients will have their arms measured for a cuff that fits and will keep using them throughout their stay.
The cuffs will then be cleaned thoroughly with detergent before being used on another patient. Patients will also be given a single-use, disposable version if they are known to have an infection.
Previously, the blood pressure of all patients on a ward was taken using a single-sized cuff which was then cleaned with disinfectant wipes between each use.
Head of Nursing for Community Hospitals Tracy Yole said: “Even though the old cuffs were wiped clean between patients, there was inevitably a risk of the transfer of infections.
“The new cuffs are made of softer material than the previous supply, and patients now have them fitted for size, so as well as reducing the risk of transfer of infections, blood pressure testing is now more comfortable for patients.”
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