Howard forgets to wash his hands

Michael Howard has just had to be reminded to wash his hands while visiting a hospital despite being there to highlight his plans to tackle the superbug MRSA. He carefully scrubbed up with alcohol gel before meeting patients at London's National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. But he failed to repeat the process between shaking hands with patients Sallie Hillman and Sophie Merrington. Catherine Cook, the hospital's infection control nurse, said the gel should be applied "before you touch a patient and after you touch a patient to disinfect your hands".