Sharps injuries – new healthcare regulations and potential concerns for the veterinary profession
Abstract
Last month the NHS European office announced a new directive: ‘Protecting healthcare workers from sharps injuries’. Lisa Lines looks at what this means to those working in veterinary practice.
The NHS European office has recently announced the new regulations on the ‘prevention of sharps injuries’. Building on from the existing health and safety law in the UK, these regulations are implemented by the EU law (the ‘sharps directive’) European Council Directive 2010/32/EU, this came into force on the 11th May 2013. The reasoning behind the change is clearly undoubted, but how could these changes affect the veterinary profession if implemented by governing bodies?
The aim of these regulations is to reduce sharps injuries and protect healthcare workers from the spread of infection and disease from blood borne pathogens. These injuries are costly to the NHS due to investigation time and test sampling.
The new regulations are currently only proposed for healthcare services: NHS, private and voluntary sectors. If the veterinary profession were to follow the same principles we would need to look closely into our current relationship with sharps and technique methods.
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