Doctors are the main culprits among hospital staff when it comes to poor hand hygiene practices, a new HSE survey has revealed.

It shows that while the overall compliance rate with good hand hygiene among all staff in acute hospitals was 86.2%, compliance of medical staff was only 76.3%.

And the HSE has warned hospital staff that poor hand hygiene in certain circumstances can lead to the spread of infection, potentially causing serious illness and death among patients.The survey involved observing 8,876 separate opportunities for hand hygiene and whether or not they were taken up.

There was an overall compliance of 86.2% among all hospital staff, but the doctors' compliance level was only 76.3%. The official hand hygiene compliance target for staff is 90%.

According to the HSE, while compliance rates for hand hygiene among medical staff has improved since a previous survey, it still lags significantly behind other staff categories in hospitals.

Nurses/midwives were the most compliant group in the latest audit, with a rate of 90.4%, while allied health professionals had a rate of 86.5% and auxiliary staff recorded a rate of 83.4%

The latest survey checked whether the World Health Organization's recommended 'five moments for hand hygiene' were being observed.

The five moments are - before touching a patient; before a clean/aseptic procedure; after body fluid exposure risk; after touching a patient and after touching patient surroundings.

The audit noted that hand hygiene before a clean/aseptic procedure (moment 2) needed to improve, as deficits in this area can lead to a healthcare-associated infection, 'with potential morbidity and mortality'.

The HSE, on foot of the latest audit, has recommended that hand hygiene education in hospitals should continue to focus on medical staff, but not to the exclusion of other groups.

It also recommended that alcohol hand rub should be promited as the best method of maintaining hand hygiene, rather than soap and water. It said hospitals should provide ready access to alcohol hand rub at the point of care.

The survey, which included private hospitals, was published by the HSE's Health Protection Surveillance Centre.