UK News

Nurse’s death prompts needle stick concerns

The death of a 42-year-old nurse from AIDS-related pneumonia seven years after she received an accidental needle stick injury whilst taking a blood sample from an HIV positive patient has prompted concerns across the NHIS this spring.

Southwark Coroner’s Court heard in February that the former nurse at south London’s Maudsley psychiatric hospital took the blood sample in June 1999 at the hospital’s Lishman Unit, which treats patients with brain injuries.

She went on to develop AIDS and died in January 2007.

It is not known whether she received post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) antiretroviral medications after the needle stick injury.

The court recorded a verdict of accident death and the hospital’s NHS Trust pledged that it had adequate safety precautions in place.

This case is the first recorded UK death of a health care worker after accidentally coming into contact with an HIV positive patient’s blood.

Several hundred needle stick injuries have occurred over the years at British HIV clinics and staff are immediately put on an emergency one month’s supply of antiretrovirals (PEP) to stop HIV infection from taking hold.

The Health Protection Agency said that there have only been five reported cases of UK healthcare workers contracting HIV from patients, the last one in 1999.

HIV clinics across the country use specialist phlebotomists to take the hundreds of thousands of blood samples every few months from HIV positive patients.

And this tragic case in south London has prompted many to review their safety procedures.

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