The National Hospitals Office has made hospital hygiene a priority from its inception.

To date the following initiatives have taken place:

• Hand-Washing Poster Campaign 'Clean Hands Save Lives' September 2005, a further  supply of posters was  made available in summer 2006
• S.A.R.I. documents, 'Guidelines for Hand Hygiene in Irish Health Care Settings' &   'The Control and 'Prevention of MRSA in Hospitals and in the Community'  - September  2005
• Hand-Washing Week 24th - 28th of October 2005; posters, stickers, pens and patient  information leaflets were distributed to all acute hospitals and to all other  facilities that requested supporting material in advance of hand washing week
• Launch of 1st National Hygiene Audit Thursday 3rd of November 2005
• Launch of the 2nd National Hygiene Audit Thursday 13th July 2006

The report and results of the 1st and 2nd National Acute Hospital Hygiene Audit are on this page.