World Hand Hygiene Day is part of the global WHO campaign called SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands
Thursday, May 5th Tallaght Hospital will celebrate World Hand Hygiene Day today with an enjoyable programme of events to promote clean hands as part of routine clinical practice. Today’s events are part of the Zero Harm – Clean Hands Save Lives initiative, a month of activities that will take place during May with the aim of further improving hand hygiene at Tallaght Hospital. This campaign which involves all staff across the hospital campus is organised by the Hospital’s Infection Prevention and Control Team.
Today’s programme includes educational events in the canteen and a musical performance by the Retired Active Men’s Social group who have changed the lyrics of a popular song to incorporate hand hygiene messages. There are also some interesting hand related artwork decorating the staff canteen which were created by patients who have participated in the active arts programme in the hospital. Throughout the rest of May there will be further events, including the unveiling of a Hand Hygiene themed video, a Hand Hygiene Taskforce led by senior Management interacting with staff across the site and education sessions.
World Hand Hygiene day on May 5th is a World Health Organisation (WHO) initiative as part of the global SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign. Tallaght Hospital is committed to being an exemplar site in this area in order to ensure the highest standards of patient care. The Hospital’s continuing improvement in the area of hand hygiene was noted by HIQA following an unannounced inspection in September 2015. The aim of the current campaign is to ensure that a culture of Hand Hygiene best practice is fully embedded in the Hospital at all levels and that Tallaght Hospital meets the national minimum target of 90%.
Dr Susanna Frost, Consultant in Microbiologist at Tallaght Hospital said, “It is great to see the range of initiatives that are taking place at Tallaght Hospital this year, not only for World Hand Hygiene day on the 5th of May but also for the Zero Harm – Clean Hands Save Lives Campaign throughout the month of May. We are committed to ensuring that Hand Hygiene is the basis of all care at Tallaght Hospital and to continue the great improvements that have been achieved to date. One of our slogans this year is, ‘What you touch you share’ which really emphasises how important it is to always clean your hands. At the end of the day, this requires cooperation from all of our staff, patients and visitors and it is great to see how committed everyone is to ensure that best practice is adhered to.”
At Tallaght Hospital we are committed to the principle of people caring for people. Ensuring the highest standards of patient care is at the centre of everything we do. As a result it is great, but not surprising, to see how committed everyone is to promoting good hand hygiene, as cleaner hands lead to safer care. I wish to congratulate everyone involved in organising this particular initiative at Tallaght Hospital. It is a wonderful success and is achieving positive results for all our patients.”
About Tallaght Hospital
Tallaght Hospital is one of Ireland’s largest acute teaching hospitals, providing child-health, adult, psychiatric and age-related healthcare on one site. The hospital has 495 adult beds and 67 paediatric bed with 2,600 people on staff. The Hospital is a provider of local, regional and national specialities. It is also a national urology centre, the second largest provider of dialysis services in the country and a regional orthopaedic trauma centre.
Tallaght Hospital is one of two main teaching hospitals of Trinity College Dublin - specialising in the training and professional development of staff in areas such as nursing, health and social care professionals, emergency medicine and surgery, amongst many others. Tallaght Hospital is part of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group which serves a population of over 1.2 million across seven counties.
A new satellite centre is to be built at Tallaght Hospital as part of the National Children’s Hospital project as a key element of an integrated clinical network for paediatric services nationally.
The hospital’s Emergency Departments catered for 44,640 Adult ED Attendances and 31,934 Paediatric Attendances in 2014. A further 263,929 patients were treated through the hospital’s outpatient clinics in 2014. The hospital’s operations are supported by a community of 200 general practitioners in surrounding communities.
