EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DEMANDS ACTION ON INJURIES TO HEALTHCARE WORKERS

3.07.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 6th Jul 2006

Health care workers across the EU today moved a step closer towards safer working conditions after Euro MPs, many shocked by recent research on the prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis amongst hospital staff, backed a report demanding legislation from the European Commission to reduce workplace injuries caused by handling needles and sharps.

It is estimated that there are over 1 million such injuries across the EU every year, including 100,000 in the UK. Studies have suggested that after injury from a contaminated needle, the risk of transmission of infections is 1 in 3 workers for hepatitis B, 1 in 30 for hepatitis C and 1 in 300 for HIV.

Liz Lynne, Lib Dem employment spokesperson and long-time campaigner for the use of safer needles in hospitals, commented;

"With an estimated one million preventable needlestick injuries each year across the European Union, causing infections such as HIV or hepatitis B or C, this is clearly a public health issue. Healthcare workers across the EU must be protected."

"Studies have shown a 20 - fold higher prevalence of Hepatitis C in the hospital environment, this is simply unacceptable. We need a combination of better training, safer working practices and the use of safer medical devices to better protect our workforce."

"If a healthcare worker is accidentally pricked they face an agonising wait to find out if they have contracted diseases such as HIV or hepatitis. This situation has to change."

Ends

Notes to Editors

1.MEPs today voted on an own initiative report adopted in the Employment and Social Affairs Committee calling for the European Commission to bring forward an amendment to the Biological Agents directive 2000/54/EC, to make the use of safer needles, the elimination of re-capping of needles and the promotion of better training, mandatory across the EU.

2. The report points out that studies had shown that the use of safer needles together with regular training and organisational measures can help reduce the number of injuries. It added that safer working practices and medical devices designed to prevent accidental needlestick injuries would also produce financial savings.

3. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5303952