Watford footballer Will Hoskins handed prizes to a group of hand hygiene champions, when he visited hospital staff during Think Clean week.

As part of the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust commitment to reducing infections, the Trust organised its bi-annual Think Clean Week at Watford General Hospital, Hemel Hempstead Hospital and St Albans City Hospital.

Hand hygiene champions were named as Sheffine Osbourne, a healthcare assistant at Watford General; John Martin, a staff nurse at the intensive care unit in Hemel; and Dr Robert Brenner, a consultant neurologist.

The hand hygiene champion team was the Urology department at Watford.

Exhibitions promoting the importance of hand-washing and infection control practices were held in staff restaurants, while competitions for staff, patients and visitors were held to reinforce the importance of good infection control practice.

The Trust's healthcare acquired infection rates have improved rapidly over the past year, from being among the worst in the country to being among the best.

Prizes for the Most Innovative Infection Control Display Board went to the Children's Emergency Department in Watford, and the Outpatients unit in Hemel.

Wainscot Nursery won the under-10s category in the Infection Control Poster competition, while Daniel Guest won the over-10s section.

A Trust representative said: "The Trust takes infection control extremely seriously and over the last year staff have worked extremely hard to significantly reduce cases of infection – in some cases by as much as 90 per cent, which is excellent news for patients."