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British hospital installs speaking hand wash alerts

Infection Control Monitor, August 29, 2008

Patients and visitors to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, England, will be greeted in hospital wards by a friendly voice reminding them to wash their hands, reported The Hampshire Chronicle.

This reminder won’t come from a live person, though; speaking hand wash alerts have been installed by Winchester and Eastleigh Heatlhcare Trust as the latest step in the fight against infections, the newspaper reported. The small metal boxes are fitted to the wall near the handwashing stations at the entrance to all wards.

The recorded messages are movement-activated and alert those persons entering the clinical area of the need to wash their hands. The messages start at 8 a.m. and discontinue after 8 p.m. so as not to disturb sleeping patients, the newspaper reported. “Speaking boxes are a prompt, you can't fail to notice, and it all helps to remind people of the importance of washing hands,” Sue Dailly, Infection Control Lead Nurse, told the Chronicle.

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