MORE than 50 per cent of people in Dorset visiting hospitals do not understand how to clean their hands properly, a survey has revealed.

A recent YouGov poll, commissioned by TEAL Patents, found 85 per cent of people in Dorset would wash their hands upon entering a hospital.

But the survey found that when visiting a hospital, over half of people (53%) in Dorset surveyed would use hand gel to clean their hands, rather than soap and water.

Norovirus – which can shut down whole hospital wards – is just one infection that cannot be stopped by hand sanitisers.

Another shocking statistic to come out of the survey is that almost a quarter of people in Dorset wouldn’t always wash their hands when visiting a hospital.

Manty Stanley, managing director of TEAL Patents – the world’s leading manufacturer of portable hand washing units, said: “The results are disappointing because they clearly suggest a lack of understanding and education about hand hygiene best practice which needs to be addressed especially as wards are seeing more virulent infections due to antibiotic-resistant infections.

“Hand gels only kill some germs and our hands have the power to kill when they incubate deadly strains of contagious diseases.

For more information about ideal hand hygiene practices go to washyourhands.co.uk.