Not just councils, and not just in social care. Staff groups such as refuse collectors, park keepers etc may also be at risk of inoculation injury. Police, fire and rescue and prison officers have same issues (and this is my particular experience). These groups are at increased risk because of the type of work they do eg C&R, searching and have a higher risk of being assaulted. Statistically there is a higher risk of having of BBV in eg prisoners and in my experience the status of the source is usually unknown and/or difficult to ascertain post injury.
OH services in these settings are not best placed to deal with such injuries and follow up, and do not presume that A&E depts will routinely follow up. This was pointed out in a letter from the DH to all A&E depts a few years back highlighting that its not just health care workers who are at risk.
Important to (in my opinion)
- Have a policy
- Educate employees(induction training, seminars etc) re risks and safe systems of work, PPE etc
- Include all relevant communicable diseases in the education package, eg DTP
- Include education about BBV that cannot be vaccinated against, hence the importance of SSW
- Vaccinate eg Hep B where risk assessment indicates
- Have arrangements for follow up - this includes standard letters to go to A&E depts and an arrangement with (eg) local NHS OH depts to see the individual, counsel and commence TX /bloods where indicated
- Acknowledge that this is not likely to come free of charge, and if PEP is indicated it will be costly
We discussed this at length a while ago on Jisc, with some examples of the letter from the DH, examples of template letters/procedures etc - likely to be some stuff in the archives. I dare say this all sounds very onerous, and I recall it being an absolute minefield. But in over a decade of dealing with such issues in a large employee population I can only recall 2 or 3 that required follow up and none that required PEP
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 18:14:10 +0000
From:
[log in to unmask]Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Management of innnoculation injuries by Council OH teams
To:
[log in to unmask]Hi Jo
look for the health protection agency's info "inoculation injures in the community settling 2009" and look at their guidance
regards
Pauline
From: Joanna Edwards <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, 25 November 2013, 15:18
Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Management of innnoculation injuries by Council OH teams
Dear All
Can I please ask the advice of those of you practicing in a Council setting?
I am reviewing our policies regarding the management of innoculation injuries and having read the Sharps Instruments in Healthcare Regs 2013 my interpretation is that these don't apply to our services, which provide social care rather than health care. What are your thoughts - have you interpreted these Regs in the same way?
Whether they apply or not we obviously have a duty of care and I'd be really interested to know how you
manage your innoculation injuries please. There seems to be an emphasis where I work on needlestick injuries only, with other innoculation injuries (bites, scratches, splashes) being under-reported. If you have any policies/protocols you would be happy to share I'd be very grateful!
Kind regards
Jo
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