The majority of NHS Trusts are set to increase their use of safety-engineered medical devices, and a third (32%) have already improved healthcare worker safety by moving to a partial or total ‘safety device only’ policy in light of forthcoming legislation on sharps injury prevention, according to a new report from MindMetre Research.
Over half (58%) of the Risk, Occupational Health, and Health and Safety UK NHS workers surveyed believe that their organisation will radically increase its use of safety devices before the EU Directive 2010/32/EU is brought into force in May 2013. This shows that most healthcare organisations are becoming more aware of the requirements of the soon to be mandatory legislation. However, a third of NHS Trusts appear not to be so concerned with the safety of their workers, as they do not have any plans in place to convert to safety devices. Almost half (49%) of hospitals surveyed that do not currently have any form of ‘safety devices only’ policy (so a third overall) intend to move to one, mostly within the next three years. The report reveals that, following the announcement of the EU Directive, attitudes towards healthcare worker safety and the use of safety devices have advanced. However, Cliff Williams, co-chair of the European Biosafety Network, warned: “Action must be taken now to protect vulnerable workers. People are suffering from injuries and emotional stress that can easily be prevented. It is no longer acceptable to let these injuries continue to occur.” There is wide consensus (73%) that the fear of sharps injury and associated health risks causes significant stress among healthcare workers. Eighty-seven per cent of those surveyed believe that the use of safety devices should be mandatory to ensure healthcare worker safety and 73% think that the only way to dramatically reduce sharps injury is to introduce comprehensive use of safety devices. This shows that attitudes towards and take up of safety devices are changing as awareness is raised.
