On a mental-health ward, alcohol hand gel is not a neutral commodity. It is an ingestion, fire and ligature risk the regulator has acted on, and it still does not kill the pathogens that drive ward outbreaks.
UK psychiatric units have recorded patient deaths from ingesting alcohol-based hand gel, and UK hand-sanitiser poisoning enquiries to the National Poisons Information Service rose sharply over a single year. NHS England responded by updating the PLACE audit to require alcohol gel to be stored securely. The tool the rest of the NHS leaves on the wall is, on your ward, a danger to be locked away.
It is also a flammable liquid in an environment where fire-setting and self-harm are live risks, which pulls it into COSHH and DSEAR assessment and adds a ligature and contraband concern your nursing and estates teams have to manage every day.
And it leaves a gap. The infection duty is unchanged and continuously monitored: the Hygiene Code and CQC Regulation 12 require effective infection prevention, CQC monitors IPC in mental-health trusts weekly, and outbreaks still bite, with the NHS losing 43,938 bed days to norovirus in a single month in 2025. Alcohol gel kills neither norovirus nor C. difficile spores, so on the days it matters most, the wall dispenser is not the answer.
You get both: a hand-hygiene option that covers the pathogens gel leaves behind, and removes the hazard that made the regulator secure the gel away.
It is independently tested to and passes the recognised European hygiene standards, including the sporicidal and virucidal standards for C. difficile and norovirus, the pathogens that drive ward outbreaks and that alcohol gel does not touch. So it closes the spectrum gap your IPC team has to manage around.
And because there is no alcohol, there is no ingestion-toxicity pathway, no flammability and no contraband concern. You keep hand hygiene at the point of care rather than locked behind a cupboard, and it is gentle enough for constant use, supporting the compliance that suffers when frequent alcohol use leaves skin sore. It complements soap and water for visibly soiled hands and for patients with diarrhoea and vomiting, exactly as epic3 and NICE require, so it strengthens your IPC position rather than complicating it.
Broad-spectrum protection, independently tested to and passing the sporicidal and virucidal standards for C. difficile and norovirus, the pathogens that drive ward outbreaks and that alcohol gel cannot touch.
Alcohol-free, so it removes the documented ingestion and poisoning hazard that led NHS England to mandate secured gel storage on mental-health wards.
Non-flammable, so it takes a fire and self-harm vector out of the ward environment and simplifies your COSHH and DSEAR position.
A safe option to keep hand decontamination available where care happens, supporting the Hygiene Code and CQC Regulation 12 duties your trust is monitored against weekly.
Gentle enough for the high-frequency hand hygiene a ward demands, supporting compliance and reducing the occupational dermatitis frequent alcohol use drives.
Independently tested results against named recognised standards, and a clear safety rationale, for your board, your CQC inspector and any Prevention of Future Deaths review.
The danger of the status quo is regulator-evidenced. The alternative is independently tested and proven to standard.
The UK environmental and safety duties that commonly reach mental health. Open any one for what it requires, the deadlines, what is at stake, and how to evidence control. Every entry is sourced.
Show me the evidence, tell me it will not create a new ligature or ingestion risk of its own, and confirm staff will actually use it.
It is independently tested to and passes the recognised European standards, including the sporicidal and virucidal standards for C. difficile and norovirus, so it covers the gaps gel leaves. It is alcohol-free, so it carries no ingestion-toxicity or intoxication pathway and is non-flammable, removing the hazards that led to secured storage. And it is gentle enough that staff will use it, where frequent alcohol use erodes compliance. We start with a trial on one ward, in your own environment. Soap and water remains the standard for soiled hands and diarrhoeal illness, exactly as it should.
Yes. It is independently tested to and passes the recognised European hygiene standards, including the sporicidal and virucidal standards for C. difficile and norovirus, the pathogens alcohol gel does not kill.
It is ingestible and has caused recorded patient deaths, it is flammable in an environment where fire-setting is a risk, and it is a ligature and contraband concern. NHS England now requires it to be stored securely on mental-health wards. It also does not kill norovirus or C. difficile spores.
It is designed to remove risk, not add it. Being alcohol-free, it carries no ingestion-toxicity or intoxication pathway and is non-flammable. Siting and dispensing are agreed with your nursing and estates teams as part of the ward trial.
No. Soap and water remains the standard when hands are visibly soiled and when caring for patients with vomiting or diarrhoea, in line with epic3 and NICE guidance. This complements that standard for everyday hand decontamination where alcohol gel is unsafe.
It supports your duties under CQC Regulation 12 and the Health and Social Care Act Code of Practice by keeping safe, effective hand hygiene available at the point of care, with independently tested evidence and a clear safety rationale for inspection.
Tell us where gel is causing you a safety or compliance problem on the ward. We will set up a trial on one ward and prove the fit in your own environment.
Tell us the cost, the risk or the obligation you are facing. A senior member of our team will respond, in confidence, with how we would help.
