Ask your doctor if they've washed their hands

DOCTORS only wash their hands 40% of the time they are supposed to, global studies have shown.

This is despite it being a key component of infection control

But Groote Schuur Hospital Professor Marc Mendelson says: "Hand hygiene is appallingly done, globally."

He suggests empowering patients to ask doctors if they have washed their hands.

With drug-resistant infections rising, infection control is a way to stop patients getting an untreatable infection in hospital.

To improve infection control Discovery Health has launched an initiative to stop patients getting infections from intravenous lines.

They insist doctors wash hands and wear masks and sterile clothes before inserting a line.

Discovery estimates this stops 1200 infections a year and saves 150 lives. - Katharine Child