London, Sept. 17 (Reuters): Long-sleeved white coats, favoured by physicians for decades, are set to be banned under an NHS shake-up aimed at tackling hospital superbugs.

Under a “bare below the elbow” dress-code unveiled by health secretary Alan Johnson, every doctor, nurse and therapist will also be banned from wearing watches, jewellery such as rings and bracelets, and neckties.

The aim is to stamp out deadly infections plaguing the NHS such as Clostridium difficile — C. diff — and MRSA. The long-sleeved coats — already being phased out in hospitals — will go because of the danger of the cuffs carrying bacteria to patients.

Johnson said he was “determined to ensure that patient safety remained the NHS's number one priority”.

“Today’s package will ... set guidelines on clothing that will help ensure thorough hand-washing and prevent the spread of infections,” he added. Experts have said that up to two-thirds of doctors do not wash their hands properly.

Other rules, to be implemented by every NHS trust by the end of the year, include quarantining patients suffering from a superbug and giving nurses and matrons the right to report directly to hospital boards four times a year to ensure their efforts are not overlooked by managers.

The moves come after a report found British hospitals were among the worst in Europe for superbugs, behind countries such as Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Latest figures show that C.Diff was a factor in more than 3,800 deaths across the country while MRSA contributed to 1,650 deaths caused by hospital-acquired infections.