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A UK hospital has launched a pioneering new invention – an electric voice reminding visitors to clean their hands.
The voice will issue from lifts at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.
As the lift stops on each hospital floor, the voice will state the level and gently remind visitors to use the hand gel available outside each ward entrance.
Hospital managers are also deciding whether another voice can be triggered as people enter hospital wards.
The plans make up a high-profile campaign to cut the number of infections caught by hospital patients. The Royal Sussex and Princess Royal are also plastered with posters and signs telling people to wash their hands.
The hospitals have already initiated uniform policies that ban doctors from wearing ties while treating patients.
Talking to local Sussex newspaper, The Argus, The Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive Peter Coles commented: “The message of this campaign is deliberately clear and simple so it will have the maximum impact and we will be closely monitoring the impact it has on our MRSA rates.
“Good hand hygiene will be the key to hitting the national target of reducing our MRSA rates by 50% by 2008.”
