The £500,000-plus to be shared between three NHS trusts in Bradford and Airedale to help them combat healthcare-acquired infections such as MRSA and C.difficile won't give them a fortune each. But with the right attitude it could make an impact.

Certainly these infections deeply worry anyone facing a spell in hospital. The persistent nature of bacteria which have become resistant to most antibiotics has undermined public confidence. Many fear that going in to be treated for one problem could lead to them acquiring another that might make them seriously ill or worse.

So there certainly has to be a welcome for this money, which the trusts say they intend to use, variously, to set up screening programmes for MRSA, provide patients with packs containing hand wipes, blood-pressure cuffs and a disposable torniquet, and look into the ways antibiotics are prescribed to reduce the chances of patients getting infections.

Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust intends to spend some of its money on setting up focus groups to ask patients what they think. Is that necessary? It's almost certain that it will be told that improved hospital cleanliness comes top of the wish list. Airedale NHS Trust has pre-empted that with a plan to provide easy-wash Velcro curtains for ward beds and arrange (among other things) for more stringent cleaning of beds and commodes.

None of this is rocket science. Zealous cleaning and disinfecting was once regarded as one of the keystones of effective nursing. A return to those disciplines cannot be achieved purely by a cash injection. It need a change of culture within the NHS.