DOCTORS at the James Paget University Hospital have been given an order to dress down - or dress up. As part of an on-going battle against superbugs staff have been banned from wearing ties when they are in contact with patients, offering them a choice of no ties or bow ties.

DOCTORS at the James Paget University Hospital have been given an order to dress down - or dress up.

As part of an on-going battle against superbugs staff have been banned from wearing ties when they are in contact with patients, offering them a choice of no ties or bow ties.

The measure, the result of new regulations from the Department of Health, has already been brought into force at the King's Lynn Queen Elizabeth and the Norfolk and Norwich University hospital.

However, the wife of one doctor at the JPH questioned the need to abandon smart ties and said some staff were worried that if they wore a bow tie instead they could become the subject of ridicule.

The new “bare below the elbows” dress code also means wearing short-sleeve shirts or rolled up sleeves, and bans jewellery and watches, which it is feared could harbour germs.

The regulations follow a 2004 study of doctors' ties in one hospital which found nearly half of them carried at least one type of infectious microbe.

A JPH spokesman said: “The uniform arrangements at the trust reflect national guidance now being adopted at all hospitals. Only a very small number of our staff have chosen to wear bow ties instead.”