In April 2014, 606 former and current students at the University of Derby were ‘at risk’ of HIV after a health worker negligently reused syringe barrels when taking blood tests and conducting vaccinations.
An investigation was opened and led by NHS England after the nurse put hundreds of students at risk of HIV and other serious infections like hepatitis. Those 606 students were contacted for blood testing who received either blood tests and/or vaccinations between September 2005 and October 2013.
Affected individuals
The potentially affected students were on courses, such as:
- MA Art Therapy
- MA Drama Therapy
- MSc Occupational Therapy
- BSc Occupational Therapy
- BSc Diagnostic Radiography
- BSc Nursing (adult and mental health); and
- Adv Dip in Nurse Studies (adult and mental health)
Guidelines
NHS health and safety guidelines dictate that syringe barrels must be changed between patients. This is also reiterated by Dr Doug Black, Medical Director at NHS England Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, who said:
“…this investigation has taken place as it is understood that, whilst syringe needles were always changed between patients, the syringe barrels to which the needles attach were being reused in the administration of vaccinations.”
Risk
Though they noted a “low risk” as a result of the error, there’s still a risk of infection from Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, or HIV. Even if they didn’t contract Hepatitis or HIV, there was still a risk.
The grounds for compensation also arose from the fact that many had to wait for further testing and for their results, which could create a lot of concern and worry for those affected. You can imagine the distress that many of the students were under whilst waiting for their results, and the fact of not knowing whether or not they had contracted a deadly infection.
The situation could be exacerbated more-so because they couldn’t do anything about it, and may have inadvertently passed infections on to others unknowingly.
Cases settled
We represented victims in this case and successfully managed to get compensation for them.
At The Injury Lawyers we’ve got a solid history of representing victims for similar cases of failures to follow infection control protocols, and ‘needle stick’ injury claims. This, and our extensive experience in acting in group action legal cases, means our clients were assured from the start that they’d receive the best legal advice and experience possible.