THE mother of a five-year-old boy from Pinehurst has spoken of her anger after her son stepped on a dirty needle in a public park.
THE mother of a five-year-old boy from Pinehurst has spoken of her anger after her son stepped on a dirty needle in a public park.Her son spent no less than 11 hours in Accident and Emergency after the incident, which happened on Saturday evening as he was playing with friends by woodland at the Tovey Road Park.
Mum described the moment that her boy came running in having had a needle go through his trainer and into his foot.
“You see these stories about people getting stuck by needles and you never think it would happen to anyone you know, let alone your own child,” she said.
11 hours is far too long, no matter how busy the A&E Unit was. Speed is important in assessment in such circumstances, as if anti-HIV prophylaxis is indicated the sooner it is begun the more effective it will be.
Such a wait will likely increase the stress-related impact for the boy and his Mum.
An interesting foot note to the story is that when Mum went to have a look at the area in question, she found yet more needles, then phoned the police who got on to the council.
“The council came out really quickly to have a look,” she said. “The guy who was collecting them said he had been doing the job for two years and it was the most he had ever found in one place.
So, the Police and Council were both quick to respond, and it is noted also that the Swindon Drug and Alcohol Treatment Service offers a safe needle exchange facility. It’s just the hospital A&E that is woefully inadequate, despite a suggestion that it had to send for Hepatitis B immunoglobulin from another hospital.
Never, ever, accept a delay in being seen and push for an urgent specialist consultation in the event of sharps injury.