An antibacterial wound dressing is based on or derived from gel-forming fibres such as carboxymethyl cellulose or alginate fibres having silver ions linked thereto at some but not all of the exchangeable sites such that the distribution of silver ions over the exchangeable sites is substantially uniform. The silvered fibres for the wound dressing can be prepared by contacting an assembly of precursor gel-forming fibres having exchangeable sites under conditions which do not cause irreversible gelling of the fibres with an amount of a solution containing silver ions so as to link silver ions at some but not all of the exchangeable sites, the whole of the assembly of precursor gel-forming fibres being contacted essentially simultaneously with the entire solution containing silver ions.
