NHS campaign 'cleans up' at awards

A hard-hitting NHS campaign developed by 999 Design for the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has won a coveted UK-wide award.

The NPSA's high-profile 'cleanyourhands' initiative scooped the top accolade in the Strategic Communications Campaign category at the fourth annual Good Communication Awards, announced last week.

The brief, to develop the third year of cleanyourhands, centred on increasing awareness of the importance of hand hygiene in healthcare environments and ultimately prompting staff to clean their hands at the point of care.

999 produced an innovative visual strategy, targeting healthcare workers and patients with a raft of posters, leaflets and educational signs each featuring detailed photography of well-known hand gestures designed to convey the campaign's key messages.

Drawing on the traffic light awareness system employed in the NHS, 999 used red and green text on a bold, black background to communicate good and bad practices, and ensure each message stood out.

The 2008 Good Communication Awards, held at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and presented by BBC news anchor Peter Sissons, focused on recognising the public sector's efforts in working towards effective communication with its staff and the public.

Katherine Wilson, cleanyourhands campaign lead, said: 'This award was for year three of the campaign and we believe that these campaign materials are the most effective yet.

'For an ongoing campaign such as ours it's a real challenge to maintain momentum, as healthcare workers end up staring at the same posters and other materials day in, day out, but the hard-hitting design really makes them stand out in the hospital environment.

'999 Design were central to the development of year three and the radical new look they produced for the materials really drove home the importance of hand hygiene in preventing infection, with the images of real hands encouraging individual responsibility.

'999 also looked beyond the posters to see how else we could get the campaign message across, all of which has greatly contributed to its continuing success.'