Thousands of deaths have been prevented in hospitals because medical staff are being more diligent about washing their hands, a study has claimed.
The high-profile Clean Your Hands campaign to encourage doctors and nurses to use soap and water or alcohol gel between patients has saved more lives than any medical development for a generation, according to the report.
Following the launch of the drive in 2004, the amount of soap and alcoholic hand rub bought by NHS trusts almost tripled.
Over the same period of time MRSA rates in hospitals fell by more than half, while there was a significant drop in the number of Clostridium difficile infections.
Sheldon Paul Stone who led the study, estimated that around 10,000 lives were saved because of the campaign which encouraged medical staff to take the simple step of washing their hands.
He added, “If hand hygiene were a new drug, pharmaceutical companies would be out selling it for all they were worth.”
There were around 1,000 deaths from MRSA and 4,000 deaths from C.diff each year in the mid-2000s, with the National Audit Office estimating that it cost over ?1billion a year to treat people who developed the infection.
Rates for the superbugs MRSA rose significantly in the 1990s from just 100 a year to a peak of 7,700 in 2003 to 2004. Following the launch of the hand-washing campaign rates fell steadily each year to 1,481 cases in 2010 to 2011.
The Clean Your Hands campaign reminded visitors and staff to go back to basics by scrubbing their hands before touching patients, eating food and after going to the toilet.
Thousands of posters were put up by bedsides to drive the message home and regular checks were made to ensure hands were kept clean.
The BMJ study found that the number of patients infected with MRSA fell from 1.88 cases per 10,000 bed days to 0.91 over the four-year period.
Over the same time rates of C.diff infection dropped from 16.75 to 9.49 cases, while the cases of MSSA – a bacteria found on the skin – did not fall.
The study also found that hospital trust procurement of soap and alcohol hand rub rose from a combined 21.8ml to 59.8ml per patient bed day over the period.
The increased levels of soap in hospitals was linked to reduced rates C.diff infection, while rising levels of alcohol hand rub were associated with a reduction in MRSA cases.
The number of MRSA infections fell to 1,114 for the period 2011-12.
Studies in 2004 showed one in four doctors and nurses still did not wash their hands reliably between every patient.
The campaign which ended in 2010 cost ?500,000 over four years.
Researchers from University College London Medical School and the Health Protection Agency say 'strong and independent associations' between the rise in soap orders and the fall in infection rates “remained after taking account of all other interventions.”
–Daily Mail, London