More than 22,000 patients are being urged to come forward for tests amid fears that an HIV-positive dentist could have infected their blood.
The
recall – believed to be the biggest in UK medical history – affects all
patients who were treated by the dentist over a 32-year period.
The
allegations surrounding the dentist came after a whistleblower secretly
filmed the man allegedly breaching infection-control standards. Those
deemed at risk will also be tested for other blood-borne viruses
included hepatitis B and C.
More than 22,000 patients in the
Nottingham area are being urged to come forward for tests after fears
they were treated by a HIV-positive dentist (file picture)
Sources
say more than 160 patients were being classed at ‘serious risk’ from
the infection. The unnamed dentist is also allegedly responsible for
separate failures that left health experts ‘horrified’.
The dentist, who had decades of experience, worked at a practice in Nottingham and treated more than 22,000 patients.
Following
the allegations, NHS England bosses are trying to track down all his
former patients to warn them that they need to be screened.
To deal with the crisis, an emergency walk-in centre has been set up in Nottinghamshire.
A hotline, which will operate seven days a week, has also been launched to advise patients who were treated by the dentist.
The
NHS will make a public appeal later today for former patients to come
forward. Bosses will hold a press conference explaining how the
investigation will proceed.
The NHS will make a public appeal later today for former patients to come forward to be tested
They
say it will not be possible to write to each patient within an
‘acceptable time frame’ because some of those who were treated visited
the surgery as far back as 1982.
Despite
the dentist’s alleged behaviour, which may have put thousands at risk,
he was suspended for just 18 months in August pending the start of the
investigation.
A
source told the Daily Mirror newspaper that: ‘While the risk of
infection is low, the advice has been to screen everyone. The public
must be aware of the need to take action.’
Today’s announcement and the recommendation for mass screening is believed to be the biggest in medical history.
In the past, NHS trusts have instead written to patients who could be at risk.
Last
year, two NHS boards contacted thousands of patients after it was
revealed that a dentist practising in Scotland had HIV. The dentist, who
worked at a surgery in Paisley, west of Glasgow, also provided
emergency cover at a hospital in Dumfries.
Following the discovery, 3,000 patients were told that they could be at ‘very slight risk’.
In the past 25 years, 10,000 patients have been tested in Britain as a result of ‘HIV-related patient notification exercises’.
In
April 2014, the rules surrounding HIV in healthcare workers were
changed. Bans on those with HIV being able to carry out certain dental
and surgical procedures were lifted.
The
General Dental Council reported that patients would have more chance of
being struck by lightning than being infected with HIV by a healthcare
worker.
Worldwide, there have been just four cases of clinicians infecting patients, according to the GDC.
No one has contracted HIV as a result of medical or dental treatment in Britain.
MILLIONS DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIND A WEEKEND GP
Four in ten people who did manage to find a doctor described the experience as poor or dreadful (file picture)
Millions
still have no idea how to see a GP when they fall ill at evenings and
weekends, MPs warn today. A quarter of patients have never heard of
out-of-hours services – a decade after they came in – and the system
remains patchy and confusing.
In
some areas, four in ten who did manage to find a doctor said the
experience was poor or dreadful. MPs on the Public Accounts Committee
say the system is too complicated, highly variable and means many
patients wrongly end up in A&E.
GPs
have been able to opt out of providing care at evenings and weekends
since 2004 under a Labour-negotiated deal that also saw their average
salaries exceed £100,000. In most areas, the work is subcontracted to
private firms which employ local doctors, or locums, from elsewhere in
England or abroad.
The
firms include Harmoni and Serco, which have been accused of running
care on the cheap and employing a single GP or nurse to cover hundreds
of thousands of patients. The MPs’ report cites figures showing that 26
per cent of patients have not heard of GP out-of-hours services.
NHS
bosses had hoped to make it easier with the launch of the 111 helpline,
which is meant to offer advice round-the-clock. Yet 18 months on, a
third of patients do not know it exists or do not understand what it is
for. MPs also warn that the standards of out-of-hours care vary
unacceptably across the country. The worst is Corby, Northants, where 41
per cent of patients who used services rated them as ‘poor’ or ‘very
poor’.
The report also draws attention to the fact that some GPs are handing out contracts to out-of-hours firms they own shares in.
Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chairs the committee, said: ‘Too many go to A&E when they do not need to.’
n Overworked hospital doctors, nurses and care assistants wash their hand less often as their shift progresses, a study warns.
Despite
guidelines introduced to control superbug infections, one in 16
patients picks up a hospital-acquired infection such as MRSA, figures
from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence show.
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