Health and safety
butterfly needle after the samples are taken and withdrawn from the patient, again contaminated with the patient’s blood. It may or may not be sheathed after the phlebotomy. Devices exist that shield the contaminated
butterfly needles, but it appears the management’s focus is managing down the risk rather than eliminating it. Safety butterfly needles are available but not thought mandatory. Cost considerations seem only to cover actual device cost, not the start-to-finish procedural savings. Somehow, in the current world of risk mitigation, the protection of employees has been reversed from 1st place to 2nd place; the conducting of the procedure with high-risk devices being placed ahead of staff safety. Eliminating risk through technology is not perceived to be the first option. The risk doesn’t stop there, however. These contaminated needles are disposed of in sharps bins which are incinerated or recycled. In either situation, the risk is still present but has moved on from the nurse, surgeon, and cleaning staff, to the recycling person emptying the sharps bin and so on, all of whom are potentially exposed to the contaminated needles. Decisions on what actions should be implemented to reduce the risk, and what level it becomes acceptable, are affected by evidence of the occurrences of sharps injuries. There is naturally and correctly a reliance on the data in the reports, given that Adverse Incident (AI) reporting is the backbone for any healthcare system including the NHS, to drive good medical practice and to increase patient safety. An AI is an event that causes, or has the
potential to cause, unexpected or unwanted effects that will involve the safety of patients, staff, users and other people. The importance of
an incident is not always obvious, and types of incidents can vary from the extremely serious (death or serious injury) to the apparently minor.
Adverse incident reporting (AIR) is also the
principal way in which NHS staff can raise concerns about patient safety, risks and drive changes in the system.8
AI reporting
is a cornerstone in clinical governance and it supports health service improvement by providing information, guidance and recommendations through which resources can be directed to areas where they are most needed, to improve quality and safety. A 2018 report ‘Barriers to staff reporting adverse incidents in NHS hospitals’9 in the National Library of Medicine, gives
published
insights into the significant level of under- reporting of AIs and references many published reports showing similar findings. The report states, “Multiple studies have shown that under reporting of AIs is significant. A large American report concluded that six out of seven AIs go unreported. In the NHS, a recent case notes review revealed significant under-reporting which was subsequently discussed at a House of Commons Health Select Committee meeting. There is a culture of under- reporting, which may be attributable to multiple factors, consisting of target-driven priorities, low morale, disengagement from management, acceptance of poor standards and denial.” This is an undeniably strong statement from UK Government Ministers.
Greiner Bio One Evoprotect safety butterfly needle 58
www.clinicalservicesjournal.com I October 2025
Merah Sentinal Max Universal Tube holder
Chrispo -
stock.adobe.com
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