Welcome to the Hand Hygiene New Zealand website.
The Hand Hygiene New Zealand project was one of the three Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) projects undertaken as part of the wider health sector's National Quality Improvement Programme (NQIP). NQIP was one of the programmes initiated by the Quality Improvement Committee (QIC) and implemented by District Health Boards (DHBs).
The QIC has been superseded by the Health Quality and Safety Commission New Zealand (HQSC). HQSC was formally established in legislation by the Government on 1 December 2010. More information on the HQSC can be found at http://www.hqsc.govt.nz/
International evidence is clear that improved hand hygiene practices contribute substantially to reducing healthcare acquired infections, including antibiotic-resistant infections within hospitals.
The initial, national development phase of the Hand Hygiene New Zealand project, led by Auckland DHB, is now complete. The project was intended to build upon and support the further development of established hand hygiene approaches within DHBs. Local uptake and implementation of the approach is therefore led by individual DHBs.
The Hand Hygiene New Zealand approach involves a culture change programme and is based on the May 2009 World Health Organization (WHO) ‘Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care’ and the associated WHO guidance publication ‘Guide to the Implementation of the WHO Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy’.
WHO Hand Hygiene Guide.pdf 
WHO Implementation Guide.pdf
The WHO Guidelines are clear that the features of a successful hand hygiene campaign include:
the promotion and proper use of alcohol-based hand products at the point of care
repeated and high quality audit/monitoring of compliance and timely performance feedback
communication and education tools
constant reminders in the work environment
active participation and feedback at both individual and organisational levels
senior management support and involvement of sector leaders.
Consistent with the WHO Guidelines, Hand Hygiene New Zealand identifies the following five moments for hand hygiene as critical to the prevention and control of infections. These are:
1. Before patient contact.
2. Before a procedure.
3. After a procedure or body fluid exposure risk.
4. After patient contact.
5. After contact with patient surroundings.
The project roll-out
Three DHBs participated in the first stage of the Hand Hygiene New Zealand roll-out which commenced in mid-October 2008. The stage one DHBs were Auckland, Waikato and Tairawhiti.
Stage two of the roll-out, for the remaining DHBs, commenced in February 2009. The ‘timetable’ section of this website includes a summary of implementation activities to be undertaken by participating DHBs.
