Dignity factors - Personal hygiene: Ideas you could use
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Provide a footcare serviceOpen
Provide a footcare service for people who cannot cut their own nails or tend to their feet safely.
This idea can be used in different settings – so seeing how someone else has done it can be useful to you, even if they work in a different area of care.
For example, this idea has been put into practice by the ‘Sole Mates’ service, which provides footcare, including foot massage, to people over 50 who have difficulty doing this for themselves. It is provided through Age Concern in a number of counties and was among the 'baker’s dozen’ practical steps praised in the Older People's Inquiry: 'That little bit of help' (108kb PDF file) (JRF, 2005).
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Raise the bar for hygiene and cleanlinessOpen
Look at all aspects of hygiene and cleanliness and consider how you could raise standards. This might involve using different products (fabrics coated with anti-bacterial agent, for example) and different procedures (more frequent monitoring of cleaning standards, for example).
This idea can be used in different settings – so seeing how someone else has done it can be useful to you, even if they work in a different area of care.
For example, this idea has been put into practice by Caterham Dene Community Hospital. They have installed special new blinds and bed curtains in the inpatient areas. These are coated with anti-bacterial agent, and the bed curtains are dated so that they can be changed every six months (or sooner if there is a patient with an infection nursed in that area). The cost is comparable to traditional curtains and blinds.
As part of the move to improve hygiene, cleaning standards are monitored and regularly reviewed to ensure that the contracted work meets the needs of the hospital. There is a regular schedule, and audits are carried out to ensure that procedures are being followed.
For further information contact Eileen Clark, Service Manager. Tel 01737 214846. Email eileen.clark@eastsurrey-pct.nhs.uk.
