A passenger has highlighted a ‘security issue’ at Manchester Airport after being unable to find an accessible sharps bin for syringe.
The Manchester Evening News is reporting that a passenger has complained to Manchester Airport bosses after being unable to find anywhere to dispose of her syringe.
Catherine Gidwaney, 47, had a pulmonary embolism in 2013 which means she has to inject blood thinner shortly before flying.
But before a trip to Lanzarote, she was shocked to discover there were no sharps bins in the women’s toilet of Terminal Two to dispose of a syringe.
She resorted to asking a Boots pharmacist to dispose of it. When she later complained to airport chief executive Charlie Cornish, he replied to say there was a ‘sharps bin’ in the disabled toilets.
But mum of three Catherine, from Droylsden, who nearly lost her life after suffering a pulmonary embolism in 2013, told the MEN: “By only putting the bin in the disabled toilet they are making the assumption that I am disabled. I’m offended by that. I am not disabled by any stretch of the imagination it’s just that, unfortunately, my life depends on taking this injection. Also, there are no signs to tell people the sharps bin is in the disabled toilets.
“If I had not found a solution I would have to take the needle on the plane because you can’t just discard it anywhere.”
Catherine’s life depends on her injection of heparin before a flight.
So on arrival at the airport at 5am, she went to the toilet, administered her medication – but couldn’t find a sharps bin.
She said: “If it weren’t for Boots I don’t know what I would have done because I didn’t know there was a bin in the disabled toilets.”
On the way back from Lanzarote, Catherine faced the same problem, when no sharps bin meant she felt forced to take her needle on the plane.
She added: “Surely, this is a security problem. It shouldn’t be acceptable that you can get on a plane with a sharp implement. ”
A pulmonary embolism is a blockage in the pulmonary artery, which is the vessel that carries blood from the heart to the lungs.
A Manchester Airport spokesman said passengers could dispose of sharps in the disabled toilets of all terminals, allowing more space to carry out medical procedures.
He added: “Our airport staff, located at our information desks, know this location and can advise any passenger should they request this facility.
“We appreciate using the disabled toilets might not be the ideal location for all passengers, and apologise for the distress caused in this instance. As this is the first time this issue has been raised, we are currently reviewing other potential locations across the airport where needles can be disposed of safely whilst also meeting airport security regulations.”
This is an interesting issue, as to where sharps bins might be provided and where they are not. There is no absolute requirement for these to be mounted in public toilets at all. I guess that there would be a medical room somewhere, where a first aider or equivalent could provide access to a sharps bin. And of course, there was always the disabled toilets but who would have thought of looking there?
There are obvious restrictions of flying with needles and syringes, probably even more so with a personal sharps bin that might be X-rayed but which would be unsafe to examine internally if security staff required that. However, every patient using self-administered injectable drugs and/or stylets for blood testing (by diabetics) should be provided by their GP or hospital care team with a suitable size sharps bins. Small personal ‘travel’ sharps bins are available. Why therefore was this lady looking for a sharps bin in the airport?
I suppose it sits between a rock and a hard place, to provide for safe disposal of used sharps but not to provide in toilets or elsewhere a receptacle into which others might place explosives and the like. We might therefore sympathise with the operators of Manchester Airport, but ask them why the think sharps bins would be appropriate in toilets provided for the physically disabled?