The study, which was conducted by Cogent Research and involved 300 interviews with senior school and nursery staff, highlighted that the issues preventing effective hygiene were lack of time, cost, poor facilities and lack of staff to supervise.
Currently there are no specific regulations covering washrooms or hand-related hygiene in nurseries, pre-schools and primary schools in England.
Kimberly-Clark has been campaigning for better hand hygiene practices through its Healthy Schools initiative launched in 2012. It points to the problems of pupil and staff absenteeism due to the spread of minor infectious illnesses caused by poor hygiene practices. According to research by the DfE, a total 6m pupil days were lost to illness in state primary schools alone this autumn term.
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