At the recent Infection Prevention conference in London, Suzanne Rapley and the East Surrey hospital Infection Prevention and Control team, Surrey and Sussex NHS Trust were announced as the winners of the Schulke Hand Hygiene Champion of 2013 award.
Helen Levers of the Rotherham Foundation Trust (Community Division) and Darren Wheldon of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust were the two runners up.
The judges included Julie Storr, (president of the IPS) and Rose Gallagher (nurse adviser for infection prevention and control at the Royal College of Nursing) who presented the awards on the schülke exhibition stand.
Entries were scored against a set of key parameters including innovation, engagement, use of a multi modal approach and ‘going the extra mile’. Suzanne and her team were the clear winners.
Suzanne Rapley persuaded the Trust to purchase a latex hand costume suit which she and her team have worn on many occasions to ‘grab instant attention’ using humour to engage with staff, patients and visitors, to then deliver serious hand hygiene messages. The hand costume has been nicknamed SASHA after the name of the Trust (Surrey and Sussex Healthcare) and now makes regular appearances during Global Hand Hygiene days and Infection Prevention Week.
The judges praised the entry as ‘an excellent example of the continued need to champion and campaign for hand hygiene in innovative ways. The entry was outstanding and the multi-modal approach is brilliant.’
Helen Levers ‘merchandised’ all available areas of the hospital with a variety of posters relating to hand hygiene, calling for patients, staff and visitors to take action. Helen also took her passion for hand hygiene into the community to talk to the public about hand hygiene. She has visited schools with her Glow and Tell box and worked with the Brownies to help them pass their Healthcare badge.
The judges commended Helen’s ‘commitment, campaigning and ongoing communication with a diverse range of audiences’.
Darren Wheldon took on the challenge of continuing the crusade when the ‘Clean your hands’ campaign came to an end. He recently produced a new hand hygiene video which has been very popular on YouTube. Hand hygiene figures and compliance with ‘Bare below the elbows’ significantly improved under Darren’s leadership.
Three entries were highly commended by the judges:
• Doneena Salmon, community learning disability nurse, designed an accessible hand hygiene teaching package specifically tailored to her client group, who have varying abilities and attention spans.
• Debra Jenkins, assistant matron, infection prevention and control, has been promoting hand hygiene in innovative and multimodal ways for 12 years, including work with the local press to keep hand hygiene in the spotlight.
• Val Radmore, sister, infection prevention and control, has engaged with the local community including a children’s hand hygiene poster competition with the winning posters being displayed in hospitals, supermarkets, local stores and schools.
The search for the 2014 schülke Hand Hygiene Champions is about to begin and further details can be found at: www.schulke.co.uk
