POOLE Hospital is ahead of the game in tackling life-threatening superbugs with alcohol rubs.

A specialist health authority has instructed NHS hospitals to ensure staff clean their hands with Propyl alcohol rubs before dealing with each patient.

The aim is to stop the spread of deadly bugs, such as MRSA, which it is hoped will save 450 lives and £140 million a year.

Every hospital must introduce the disinfectant by April next year in the government-funded campaign.

Martin Smits, director of nursing at Poole Hospital, said the rubs had been used there in the Philip Arnold Unit's wards for the elderly - which caters for more than 2,000 elderly people - since April this year.

Small pots with a self-dispensing pump stand at the bottom of each patient's bed and will be introduced throughout the hospital by November.

For children's ward - to stop youngsters getting hold of the disinfectants - doctors and nurses carry a tube with the rub on their belts.

Mr Smits said: "We are ahead of the game here. We started using it because we knew it was going to be successful.

"The alcohol gets rid of the bugs by rubbing it on the hands. We started using it in the elderly wards because they come in with health problems and are more susceptible."

The "clean your hands" campaign is being run by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) after international studies showed infection rates can be reduced by 10 to 50 per cent when healthcare staff regularly clean their hands.

There is a relatively low rate of MRSA cases at Poole Hospital - 0.138 per cent per thousand bed days - but the rub was introduced as a preventative measure.

Mr Smits said: "We have a good history of controlling the MRSA affection. This is a preventative measure. We have a relatively low rate of MRSA infection but it is still dangerous."

Poole was in one half of the hospitals in the country already using the alcohol rubs.

The campaign will be rolled out over the next few years and supplies of the disinfectant rubs - which have been rigorously tested - will be available through a new NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency contract.

First published: Sept 3