A survey of staff has found that only two-thirds of hunter New England Health staff had washed their hands at any given time.

Health staff are required to wash their hands or use alcohol hand-rubs before and after touching every patient, whether or not they wear gloves.

In February, managers audited 8500 opportunities where staff should have washed their hands, and found they did in 65per cent of cases.

Infection prevention and control director John Ferguson said he wanted to get the overall rate to 80per cent.

Statistics show that 350 people get blood poisoning each year in the region’s hospitals and clinics, with 70 dying.

Blood poisoning, also known as septicaemia, is a blood infection caused by either bacteria, fungi or other micro-organisms.

It can be prevented by good hygiene such as sterilising equipment, cleanliness when inserting drips and catheters, wound management and washing hands.

Dr Ferguson estimated about 35 of the 70 deaths each year were directly caused by septicaemia.

In the other half of cases, the direct cause of death was health issues such as terminal cancer or trauma that caused the infection.

The microbiologist and infectious diseases physician said they could save up to 14 of the 35 people directly infected annually by improving hygiene rates.

‘‘It’s quite a high standard, so it’s very difficult to get compliance,’’ he said.

‘‘We think we can prevent 40-50per cent if we made everything just right and really went to the n-th degree.

‘‘It’s all about behaviour.’’

Dr Ferguson emphasised septicaemia cases represented about 1per cent of all admissions.

About a third of all cases occurred outside the hospital walls, for example, in dialysis patients during regular treatment in clinics.

‘‘It’s also important to note that people don’t always die, it is a treatable condition,’’ he said.

There are about 12,000 cases of hospital-contracted septicaemia in Australia each year, and an equal number of community-contracted cases, including 500 in the Hunter New England area.

Dr Ferguson said there was discussion about publicly releasing septicaemia rates to improve compliance.

Causes of septicaemia out of hospital include meningitis, meningococcal, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and abdominal infections.