"Hand hygiene"

The following response has been published by Patient Opinion on behalf of Latrobe Regional Hospital:

Dear Kerikeri

Thank you for taking the time to share yours and your husband's experience on Patient Opinion. I'm pleased to know your husband's overall experience has been a positive one, but I'm disappointed to hear the hand hygiene practices of some of our staff have not met the high standards we set at LRH.

Although LRH has annual assessments, practical and online training for staff, we rigorously promote the World Health Organisation's model of the 5 moments of hand hygiene:

* Before touching a patient

* Before clean / aseptic procedures

* After body fluid exposure / risk

* After touching a patient

* After touching patients surroundings

As part of providing safe care we review our systems and are continually improving the service we offer to our community. We listen to important feedback from our consumers which can be provided to feedback@lrh.com.au or by speaking with a staff member. The Victorian Healthcare Experience Survey is another way that we listen to our consumers' experience including hand hygiene practices.

Thank you for alerting us to this matter. I have asked our infection control team to highlight this concern during hospital-wide education sessions to ensure our staff are acting in accordance of our hand hygiene policy.

Once again, thank you for alerting us to your husband's experience.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Craighead

Chief Executive