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07/11/2006
Patient tests offered after hospital worker diagnosed with HIV
More than a thousand patients who were treated at four hospitals in the Midlands are being offered HIV tests after it was revealed that a health worker who treated them was diagnosed with HIV and hepatitis B.
The worker had been in four orthopaedics units: Redditch's Alexandra Hospital, Kidderminister Hospital, Birmingham's Orthopaedic Hospital and Evesham Community Hospital in Worcestshire.
Letters have been sent to those people who have been identified as being at risk, asking them to attend clinics for blood tests. A confidential hotline has also been set up for patients.
According to reports, the infections only came to light when the worker underwent a recent routine health assessment and they are no longer involved in work that may place patients at risk of contracting the infections.
However, a spokesperson for the NHS stressed that there was only a "small risk" of patients coming into contact with the infections.
Dr Rashmi Shukla, regional director of public health for the West Midlands, said: "There is no recorded care of transmission of HIV from an infected health care worker to a patient in the UK and the chance of an infected healthcare worker passing hepatitis B to a patient is low."
(KMcA)
The worker had been in four orthopaedics units: Redditch's Alexandra Hospital, Kidderminister Hospital, Birmingham's Orthopaedic Hospital and Evesham Community Hospital in Worcestshire.
Letters have been sent to those people who have been identified as being at risk, asking them to attend clinics for blood tests. A confidential hotline has also been set up for patients.
According to reports, the infections only came to light when the worker underwent a recent routine health assessment and they are no longer involved in work that may place patients at risk of contracting the infections.
However, a spokesperson for the NHS stressed that there was only a "small risk" of patients coming into contact with the infections.
Dr Rashmi Shukla, regional director of public health for the West Midlands, said: "There is no recorded care of transmission of HIV from an infected health care worker to a patient in the UK and the chance of an infected healthcare worker passing hepatitis B to a patient is low."
(KMcA)
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