Will alcohol gels help hospitals to avoid medical negligence claims?

Amid fears of transferring infections such as MRSA between patients, and resulting compensation claims for medical negligence, many hospitals installed alcohol-based gel dispensers as a way of enhancing cleanliness.

However, the substance is not without its detractors. It has been suggested that the alcohol in the gel is a fire risk, and there have been stories of people suffering from alcoholism stealing the bottles from the walls of the hospitals in order to consume the gel.

In 2008, for example, almost the full spectrum of the UK's national press, from the Daily Mail to the Guardian, carried news articles about the theft issue following a statement from the homelessness charity Thamesreach saying that they had had some anecdotal reports about deaths and were looking into the issue.

Like the fire risk issue, this is something that must be looked at in a risk assessment, and the measured against the benefits of the gel's cleansing properties. It is also possible to take action to reduce risk - for example, more secure dispensers could be fitted, and a policy of keeping the installed dispensers away from power sockets and light switches.

It is also important to register that users of the gel should not believe that it replaces the need to use old-fashioned soap and water techniques, particularly for medical professionals with rings and long fingernails. Canadian reports have suggested that increased usage of the gels alone did not decrease the transmission of the kinds of infection that can lead to clinical negligence claims, and a spokesperson for that country's Center for Disease Control agreed, saying "If they don't do everything else right, having clean hands is not enough."

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