Wanganui is sparkling in the hand hygiene department if receiving the Hand Hygiene Quality Improvement Award 2014 is anything to go by.
River City residents are in clean hands with the Whanganui District Health Board (WDHB), who took the award for the health board with fewer than 300 acute inpatient beds.
With the exception of one health board, which is lead agency of the Hand Hygiene New Zealand (HHNZ) programme, 19 of the country's 20 boards were entered into the awards, which consisted of one for DHBs with more than 300 acute inpatient beds and one for DHBs with fewer than 300 beds.
The hand hygiene team all worked extremely hard to improve performance in the hospital and around Wanganui, director of nursing Sandy Blake said.
Team co-ordinator Ruth Foulkes said she was delighted with the win, because "the Hand Hygiene Quality Improvement Awards recognise successful hand hygiene improvement efforts to date, plus a DHB's quality improvement planning efforts for the next 12 months".