The importance of washing our hands is something our parents drum into us at about the same time as we undergo potty training.

So staff at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and other hospitals around the region could be forgiven for feeling as if they're being treated like children by being sent for hygiene training - which will include being told to wash their hands more often.

It does sound patronising, but bosses at the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust have good reason for cracking down on cleanliness at the three sites under their control.

It turns out that levels of the potentially fatal MRSA virus are higher at the county's hospitals than they should be.

MRSA is transferred by touch, yet it seems the bottles of alcohol handwash mounted at every doorway and dangling from the uniforms of many nurses are not being used as much as they might.

The problem, as anyone who's visited the Royal will know, is that stopping to wash your hands every time you go in and out of a door soon becomes very tiresome, not to mention time-consuming.

So you can see why staff members who use those doors hundreds of times a day might give it a miss in the interests of actually getting some work done.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no alternative. The hospital is looking at the feasibility of installing a high-tech MRSA screening system. But until then, staff will have to swallow their pride and go on their hygiene courses.