A VIRTUAL nurse is reminding visitors to a South Yorkshire hospital to curb the spread of infection and help battle winter bugs.
Holly the hologram, now standing at the entrance of Rotherham Hospital, urges people to use alcohol hand gel and wash their hands as they arrive.
Ann Kerrane, lead nurse for infection prevention and control at the hospital, said: “We are really pleased to get this new kit.
“I think Holly will catch people’s attention, because she looks so realistic.
“We would never have a real medical professional standing in the main entrance asking people to use the hand gel.
“We hope that more people will pay attention to the important messages, if they come from Holly.
“She will ask people to wash their hands to reinforce the message about infection prevention and control, as no matter how much we try there will always be people who miss this important message otherwise.”
The hospital says it already has one of the lowest infection rates in the country for MRSA and clostridium difficule diarrhoea cases.
Holly will promote an important message as bugs, like the winter vomiting condition norovirus, are more prevalant at this time of year.
Ann said: “The introduction of Holly at this time is ideal as the winter months have higher cases of flu like illness and diarrhoea and vomiting cases which has been shown nationally to be much higher this year than in previous years.
“Hand hygiene is the most effective way to prevent such viruses being brought in to Rotherham Hospital.
“The trust is committed to infection prevention and control and has a really good reputation for low infection rates.
“However we are always trying to do more, so we hope Holly will help us to further improve.”
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