THE restriction of hospital visiting times is not something that would normally be welcomed.

Anyone spending a length of time in hospital is generally grateful to see a friendly face, but the issue of visiting has suddenly become much more complex.

The Royal Bolton Hospital has just announced that visiting times are to be restricted and the number of people seeing a patient will also be limited in an attempt to reduce the number of patients contracting MRSA or Clostridium difficile.

The move is being made to enable staff at the hospital to monitor hand washing when people enter wards.

People often wrongly blame hospitals for spreading superbugs such as MRSA, claiming they have not been properly cleaned, but often the bug is brought in by an unsuspecting visitor.

Everyone who visits a hospital needs to take some responsibility in making sure it is as clean when they leave as it was when they entered - and surely not visiting if you are ill, washing your hands and observing limited visiting times is not too much to ask.