Glove Awareness and World Hand Hygiene Day marked by GHA

The Gibraltar Health Authority will promote Glove Awareness from May 2 to 6 and mark World Hand Hygiene Day on May 5 as part of its annual campaign to encourage best practices in infection prevention across GHA and Elderly Residential Services locations.

Led by the Infection Prevention and Control Team, the initiative aims to reinforce optimal hand hygiene techniques following World Health Organization guidelines, known as the WHO 5 Moments.

Practitioners Nathan Lightbody and Sandra Netto, along with Infection Control Assistant Keith Ruiz, will visit hospital wards and ERS sites to assess hand washing practices using a glow box and monitor compliance with ‘bare below the elbow’ protocols. Images and videos captured during the visits will be shared on the GHA’s social media platforms.

Mr Lightbody said: “From an infection control perspective we prefer that staff wash their hands more than use gloves. Although appropriate glove use is encouraged for certain tasks which need to be risk assessed, we advise that these are not used unnecessarily to avoid additional waste generation and its impact on the environment.”

“There are occasions when they have to use gloves, but they have to risk assess and not use them all the time.”

GHA Director General Kevin McGee highlighted the importance of hand hygiene across clinical settings.

“The importance of hand washing and observance of ‘bare below the elbow’ protocols by clinical staff cannot be emphasised enough. It is an essential element of infection control in the hospital wards and something we take extremely seriously to protect our patients, avoid unwanted health complications and ensure the best possible outcome.”