Lynne meets with heads of nursing associations to promote needle safety

8.17.46pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 29th Jun 2006

West Midlands Liberal Democrats MEP Liz Lynne the Employment and Social Affairs spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats today met with leaders of European nursing associations who came to the European Parliament in Brussels to thank her for her work in trying to achieve EU-wide legislation to cut down on the amount of injuries suffered by healthcare workers while handling needles and other medical sharps.

Amongst the delegation meeting Liz Lynne were five heads of European national nursing associations including the UK's Dr Beverly Malone, General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, and Paul de Raeve, General Secretary of the European Federation of Nurses Associations.

Discussions centred around the vote next week in the European Parliament on a report by the Employment and Social Affairs Committee on needlestick injuries.

Liz Lynne MEP, a long-time campaigner for the safer use of needles in hospitals said "I welcome the discussions today as an excellent opportunity to hear the views of those the legislation is intended to benefit the most. Currently it is estimated that there are one million preventable needlestick injuries each year across the European Union. The consequences to medical staff can be extremely serious, including infections such as HIV or hepatitis B or C."

"We need to protect healthcare workers across the EU. We need a combination of better training, safer working practices and the use of safety needles in order to achieve this. The practice of recapping needles must be eliminated."

"If a healthcare worker is accidentally pricked, they wait in fear to find out if they have contracted diseases such as HIV or hepatitis. We must ensure that they receive the best possible protection from these potentially fatal injuries."

Ends

Notes to Editors

1. MEPs will vote next week on an own initiative report adopted in the Employment and Social Affairs Committee calling for an amendment to the Biological Agents directive 2000/54/EC to include legislative provisions for Healthcare workers.

2. The report points out that studies have shown that the use of safer needles together with regular training and organisational measures can help reduce the number of injuries.