Question: Does washing our hands genuinely reduce the spread of infection? It sounds quite a simple strategy, but can you get it wrong?

Absolutely; a lot of people think they are washing their hands properly when in fact they are splashing their hands in water with little soap, little rubbing and limited drying. It may come as a surprise but unless you dry your hands fully then there is little point in washing your hands. The act of drying your hands limits the spread of bacteria, as it breeds on wet hands. We carried out some research at Queen Mary, University of London in partnership with the Albany Healthy Schools programme, which identified that the longer you dried your hands for the fewer bacteria remained.

The ultimate hand cleaning approach would be washing hands in warm water, paying particular attention to finger tips and nails, followed by drying hands for 25 seconds with a combination of air and paper drying.