Superbugs now kill more than five thousand people a year in the UK and infect a further, estimated, eighty thousand. Ten percent of all patients will pick up a secondary infection whilst staying in hospital. Diseases such as Hepatitis A, E Coli 0157:H7 and MRSA are all too easily transferable from person to person. Whilst nursing staff may wash their hands regularly, germs, which are not visible to the human eye, can remain and traces can be found on doors, handles, tables and unclean linen and can fuel the bugs’ invisible growth.

To help combat this problem, the Hand Inspection Cabinet or Glow & Show machine, as it is also known, which uses ultraviolet (UV) light and a UV fluorescing lotion to demonstrate correct hand-washing technique, is available from DaRo UV Systems Ltd. The cabinet has proved highly successful within Education Authorities, Councils, Schools, Food Factories and Infection Control Units within hospitals. The cabinet is used as a training aid to teach good hand washing techniques, a vital tool in the fight to minimise the spread of bugs and infection.

Vicki Parkin, Head of Infection Control at York Hospital, uses the Hand Inspection Cabinet for every teaching session. Vicki said, “The Hand Inspection Cabinet is an extremely valuable asset that every infection control unit MUST have as it is visually the only way that people can see how easily infection can spread.” Through teaching the importance of thorough hand washing York Hospital has the lowest number of outbreaks of secondary infection, such as MRSA, in the country