Posted: 2-Jun-2006 << BACK
Rush for blood tests after hepatitis C scare Paul Carey, Western Mail Jun 2 2006
THE confidential helpline set up specifically for patients of the healthcare worker who had been diagnosed with hepatitis C took 715 calls on the first day.
Four-hundred appointments have been booked for patients asking for blood tests for hepatitis and HIV. Five of the 47 clinics are now fully booked.
In the letter sent to patients, a helpline number is given to book an appointment in one of the special clinics set up for blood testing. The clinics are held all day and at weekends from Monday, June 5, to Monday, July 17.
Dr Sandra Payne, North Wales director for the NHS for Wales, said, "People are understandably concerned and I would like to emphasise that the risk of patients getting hepatitis C, hepatitis B or HIV is very small indeed."
Patients screened in hepatitis scare Gareth Morgan, Western Mail Jun 1 2006
MORE than 5,000 patients of a health care worker are to be screened for HIV as well as hepatitis B and C.
It follows patient concerns about the standard of the health care worker's infection-control procedures.The worker was diagnosed with hepatitis C last autumn and yesterday the National Public Health Service stressed the person had only that infection, although tests for the others would be offered.The NPHS has checked the details of more than 5,000 patients and examined records going back up to 30 years in a bid to identify those who are to be offered screening.
The health worker was based in Gwynedd. Doctor Sandra Payne, regional director for the NPHS North Wales, said, "The contact programme is precautionary."The risk of a healthcare worker passing on the hepatitis C virus is very low indeed. It can only happen if the healthcare worker's blood gets into the patient's bloodstream."We have no evidence to suggest that any individual has suffered ill health as a consequence of having care provided by the healthcare worker." She added, "I do want to emphasise that the risk of patients getting hepatitis C, hepatitis B or HIV is very small indeed."
The NPHS has been working on the case since last year. The member of staff concerned stopped working last October, when the NPHS was notified of their diagnosis.
Hepatitis C means swelling or inflammation of the liver. The virus is blood borne and is spread when blood of an infected person is spread into the bloodstream of another. The infection affects different people in different ways, with many experiencing no symptoms at all while others experience extreme tiredness and can feel very unwell.
It is estimated that around 15-20% of infected people clear their infections naturally within the first six months of infection.
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