By Marjory Inglis, health reporter

BADGES AND basins are becoming the front-line defences in a war against life-threatening bugs.

Nurses in two wards at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, are now wearing badges encouraging patients to challenge them on whether they have washed their hands.

Health bosses know that the single most important way to reduce the spread of infection is by making sure that hands are scrupulously clean.

NHS Tayside is also planning to introduce plasma “alert” screens in its hospitals that will be triggered when an individual passes through an infrared beam.

They will be used to make visitors think about washing their hands, flashing up messages on the screens.

For years medical teams have been battling against the fact that patients coming in to hospitals for treatment can pick up dangerous bugs while they are there.

Some germs, like the antibiotic resistant MRSA, can prove fatal and are particularly threatening to people with an immune system weakened by diseases such as cancer and leukaemia. People with open wounds are also vulnerable to infection which can invade the body through the blood system.

Visitors who may be carriers of infection but show no symptoms of disease can unwittingly pose a threat simply by shaking a hand.

Now health bosses want to ratchet up their response to the threat and, in particular, stress that healthcare acquired infection (HAI) is everyone’s problem.

Hand hygiene stations—in other words wash-hand basins and soap dispensers—are being installed in every ward in a bid to ensure everyone understands the crucial part they have to play in reducing the spread of infection.