Liz Lynne joins nursing and health campaigners to celebrate new needle stick safety law

4.42.24pm GMT Wed 24th Mar 2010

(Left to right): Ana Salegui, nurse; Roy Bridges, HFE member; Paul de Raeve, EFN –European Federation of Nurses; Liz Lynne MEP; Máximo González, President of the Spanish Nurses Association.

LibDem Euro MP Liz Lynne hosted a reception with Heath First Europe to mark victory in the long campaign for a law to tackle the serious risks faced by nurses and other health workers from needle stick injuries.

The event in the European Parliament in Brussels follows a final decision by EU ministers to adopt new laws to prevent needle stick injuries in the workplace.

Nursing organisations and campaigners estimate that every year, across the EU, up to one million preventable injuries are sustained from needle stick and sharp objects in medical workplaces. For the UK alone, the estimate is 100,000 annual incidents. These injuries can transmit blood borne infections such as Hepatitis C and HIV.

Liz Lynne, Vice President of the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee, has campaigned for this legislation since 2004 and drafted the European Parliament's recent resolution on the subject.

Liz Lynne said:

"The reception was to mark an important victory for healthcare workers across Europe.

"At last people who dedicate their lives to care for others will be protected from a daily threat of life threatening infections caused by needle stick injuries. Many of those injured face an agonising wait to find out whether they have contracted a blood borne infection such as HIV or Hepatitis C.

"The campaign since 2004 has involved nursing organizations, independent campaigners and individual politicians.

"Most injuries from needles and sharp objects are avoidable, and these new laws should cut dramatically the number of incidents."

"This event was an opportunity to say thank you to the campaigners and also to encourage pressure on all EU member state governments to implement the new law as soon as possible.

"Governments have been given two years to bring in domestic legislation, but given the urgency of the situation, with 200,000 needle stick injuries likely in the UK health sector alone in that time, I certainly hope the British government will legislate more quickly than that and not drag its heels."

ENDS

Notes to Editors: All EU Member States now have 2 years to bring in the new requirements outlined in the legislation.

West Midlands MEP Liz Lynne is Vice President of the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee, which is responsible for Health and Safety in the Workplace. Liz has campaigned for 6 years for an amendment to existing EU legislation on Biological Agents to ensure mandatory standards in the workplace to better protect healthcare workers and ancillary workers, including a ban on re-sheathing.

In 2006 the European Parliament adopted a resolution on protecting European healthcare workers from blood-borne infections due to needle-stick injuries. The resolution requested the Commission 'to submit to EP within three months of the date of adoption of the resolution, a legislative proposal for amending Directive 2000/54/EC on biological agents'. This did not happen.

After years of pressure from us, the Commission did eventually draft an amendment to the biological agents directive last year, via a proposal for a directive, however this was dropped because the social partners (hospital employers and health worker unions) decided to enter formal negotiations, which they had no intention of doing until they knew that we had succeeded in getting the proposal through Parliament.

The social partners adopted an agreement last year and Liz Lynne's report last month gave the Parliament's support for this. Following the adoption of this by Member States, they will then have 2 years to bring in the changes.