The Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust is leading the way in cleanliness as the first NHS Trust in the UK to introduce hand sanitiser stations at no cost to the Trust. The 18 units across Trust sites are for service user, staff and public use and are simply activated by a sensor-operated device when hands are placed inside, negating the risk of cross-infection as no surfaces are touched.

Although the Trust can boast of one of the lowest infection rates in the country, the complimentary hand sanitiser stations will help tackle infections such as MRSA.

Director of Infection Prevention and Control, Val Leggett said:

“These new units are visually striking and will be positioned in ward receptions and restaurant areas to prompt service users, visitors and staff to clean their hands on entry and exit to our sites.

It is really great that the SaniPosts have been provided free of charge to the Trust as part of a government initiative to promote higher standards of public hand hygiene in this country.”

The SaniPosts also comply with the Trust’s green policy as the units can help reduce costs and environmental impact compared with standard hand-washing, as the stations do not require water or electricity, but instead are operated by batteries which last approximately 75,000 cycles.

The units have been supplied free of charge by SaniPost. Warren Edmondson, Managing Director of SaniPost, said: “There has been growing concern around the spread of infection and we are happy to allay these fears by installing SaniPost in NHS hospitals. The stations allow for better infection control because there is no need to touch buttons or levels.”