THE Scottish Executive is launching a major drive to improve the hygiene habits of the nation through a £2.5 million campaign that will encourage people to wash their hands more frequently.

A two-year initiative will aim to reduce the spread of both common diseases and hospital superbugs such as MRSA by issuing new advice stressing the importance of carrying out the basic procedure.

The National Hand Hygiene Campaign, which will get underway early next year, will involve an advertising drive urging the general public to make sure they wash their hands in homes and workplaces to help prevent transmission of illnesses such as colds, flu and E-coli.

NHS boards, which are being provided with funding of up to £50,000 annually, will appoint handwashing “co-ordinators” to raise awareness of the issue among hospital staff, patients and visitors.

Health officials say the move is necessary to drive up hygiene standards and insist it will not be a “Big Brother” style campaign. But opposition politicians have questioned whether the initiative will be an effective use of resources.

MSP Nanette Milne, health spokes woman for the Conservatives, agreed that raising awareness of hygiene issues was important. But she added: “I don’t know if this is the best way to go about it. It seems there is a lot of money spent on high- profile stuff which doesn’t necessarily have the results at the end of the day.”

However, Stewart Maxwell, SNP deputy health spokesman, argued that it was a problem that had been ignored for far too long. He said: “Many public health doctors have been saying we should be have been doing this for years.

“We have spent an awful lot of time and money hand-wringing – instead of handwashing – over the years, asking how do we deal with hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). In fact, doctors and others have been saying, get people to wash their hands.”

The plans for the campaign were revealed in a letter sent to NHS boards by chief nursing officer Paul Martin last week. It states that the initiative aims to “achieve a sustainable change in culture in relation to hand hygiene practice”. It says that a four to six-week public media campaign is planned for the end of January 2007, with health boards expected to recruit co-ordinators by the end of December this year.

Tim Brett, director of Health Protection Scotland and chair of the advisory board for the campaign, told the Sunday Herald that it would not be too “Big Brothery or preachy”.

“We all seem to be leading busier and busier lives and some of the things that maybe our parents and grandparents took for granted, we don’t,” he said. “There is also maybe a feeling that it doesn’t matter if you get sick, there will be a medicine for it or something you can do, so we have overlooked some of the basics.

“It is simply saying to people just stop and think, it won’t take you more than 15 seconds to do this [handwashing].”

Brett said American research had found that when you shake hands with someone, there is a one-in-five chance they hadn’t washed their hands after using the toilet. He added that the campaign would be particularly aimed at the under-fives to try and instill good habits in the next generation.

“You are much less likely to pick up a cold if you wash your hands regularly and in the event of us facing a flu pandemic, one of most effective ways to prevent its spread is hand hygiene,” he said. “In a whole range of areas this is important and what the campaign is going to be trying to do is remind people of that and explain why.”

The initiative is the latest in a series of “nannying” campaigns launched by the Executive, some of which have been criticised for having little impact . Earlier this year, the Sunday Herald revealed that millions of pounds invested in healthy-eating initiatives had failed to improve the diets of Scots. In September, an evaluation of the “One Scotland” advertising drive to combat intolerance found the number of people exposed to racist behaviour had actually increased.

Healthcare-acquired infections, of which MRSA is the main one, are thought to be a factor in nearly 2000 deaths a year in Scotland and cost the NHS £186 million a year. Campaigners welcomed a new drive to encourage handwashing , but warned that it would have to be sufficiently high-profile to be effective.

Bev Hurst, of patient support group MRSA Action UK, said: “You have really got to change the mindset of people and get it to become a habit and the norm, rather than an unusual thing.”

Doctors’ and nursing leaders also backed the campaign, but pointed out that it was vital it was adequately supported. A spokeswoman for BMA Scotland said: “We must continue to ensure that resources are available for doctors, nurses and visitors to wash their hands before and after contact with patients.”

Jane McCready, chair of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland board, said that it was about promoting “common sense steps”.

The Scottish Executive said that the details of the National Hand Hygiene Campaign were still being planned.

Health minister Andy Kerr said: “Our main aim is to achieve a widespread and long-term change in public attitudes and behaviour, which will improve hand hygiene practices and reduce avoidable illness such as food poisoning and viruses like flu.

“Patient safety is at the heart of everything we do and that is why we also want to improve hand hygiene practice among staff, visitors and patients, to prevent and control the spread of HAIs in the NHS.”